


If the Chosen One Can't Defy Heteronormative Social Structures, Who Can?

by AntagonizedPenguin



Series: How Best to Use a Sword [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Sex, Casual Sex, Character Death, Double Penetration, Isaac collects boyfriends throughout, M/M, Multiple Partners, Oral Sex, Polyamory, The Epic Fantasy Genre Needs More Gayness, Threesome, With A Chosen One Who Likes Gay Sex, Your Typical Chosen One Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 21:55:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 45
Words: 113,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4936777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntagonizedPenguin/pseuds/AntagonizedPenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has long been prophesied that someday the chosen one would be born, one who could unite what was once broken apart, bring light and darkness together and change the way the world saw magic. </p><p>Scholars are pretty sure his penchant for taking it up the ass is not part of the prophecies. </p><p>Or, Isaac is only willing to be the chosen one if it doesn't interfere too much with his sex life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. If the Chosen One Can't Defy Heteronormative Social Structures, Who Can?

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many problems with chosen one narratives. I will now attempt to fix them all by adding the panacea that is gayness. 
> 
> This is the story with the most in the way of 'plot' (in scare quotes until such a beast actually emerges and is proven to exist) out of all the ones I've done thus far. Be afraid.

The road had been long and winter was soon approaching. Yancy trotted into the sleepy village like a spectre, mist swirling at his mount’s hooves, his cloak hiding his form and face from all who might see him. This was the town he’d been told about, and he knew he was going to find what he was looking for here. 

The townspeople looked up as he passed with his party, interested or perhaps concerned. In towns such as this, surely visitors weren’t a common sight. He passed by them in silence but for the hoofbeats of his horse Pertaker, which meant ‘seeker of destiny’ in a language ancient as civilization itself. 

As they entered the town square Yancy picked out what was likely the only inn in such a small town and headed for it, dismounting his horse outside. A scruffy stableboy came to greet him and Yancy gave the boy a coin. “A stall for my horse, lad.”

The boy blinked at the coin and took it. “It’s two silver pieces to stable a horse if you’re here for the night.” He said.

That was daylight robbery, but hardly Yancy’s concern at the moment. “I shall take such matters up with the innkeep. Tell me, boy. I seek a lad…”

“Or a girl.” Diana, his companion, said from behind him. 

Yancy glanced at her. “Aye, or a girl.” They had argued about this since leaving the capital. There wasn’t any reason why the chosen one couldn’t be a girl. Though the prophecies were often translated as saying ‘he,’ Diana was quick to remind him that the ancient language in which they were written was ambiguous about many things, gender included. But the travelling bard they’d met a few weeks back had told them about a boy in this village, an unusually skilled boy who had made the bard’s vision go dark at midday—bringing darkness to light was a sign of prophecy, and so Yancy was convinced it was this boy they were searching for. “A boy or a girl in your village, one who is different from the others. You may have noticed a mark on his body, or he may have performed unique feats…”

“Oh, you mean Isaac.” The boy said, and Yancy’s attention perked. “Yeah, I know him.” 

Yancy glanced back at Diana and the rest of their party. Maybe, after all their searching, they had found the place they were looking for. And a boy, too, just like he’d thought. “Do you know where we might find this boy, Isaac?”

The stableboy shrugged. “Haven’t seen him today.”

“Very well.” Yancy turned, headed towards the inn. “Perhaps the innkeeper can help. Ah.” He turned and gave the boy another coin. “Thank you for your help, lad.” 

The stableboy pocketed the money and shrugged again. “You’re welcome, I guess?”

Yancy nodded, and strode into the inn purposefully. He lowered his hood once inside, his bearded visage scanning the room for the innkeeper. A fat man in an apron approached him and Diana near immediately, and Yancy knew this was the man. “Looking for rooms, are we?” He asked congenially. 

“Yes, for the night.” Yancy told him. “But first, we’ve important business in this hamlet. We’re seeking a boy. We…”

“Isaac?” The innkeeper asked, frowning.

“Why, yes.” Yancy said. It seemed that the boy was already making a name for himself locally. It was good that they’d found him before someone else did. “Possibly, at least. Does this boy Isaac display remarkable abilities, unusual knowledge, perhaps the power to make people want to follow him?” 

“Yeah, Isaac’s got all that from what I hear.” The innkeeper shrugged. “Just from hearing the other kids talk, you know? I wouldn’t say I know personally, but they all think he’s the greatest gift ever given to the village.” 

“Not to the village, good sir.” Yancy said. “But possibly to the world itself.” The man’s eyebrows shot up and he gave them all a very strange look. “Where might we find this child?” 

The man hesitated, as if struggling with the decision of whether to answer Yancy. Just as Yancy opened his mouth to assure the man he had no ill intentions for the boy, the innkeep sighed as if in resignation. “He’s probably down by the river. I saw him with Mark’s boys earlier.” 

“Excellent.” Yancy declared. “One of my subordinates will negotiate the price of rooms at your establishment, sir. I shall return once I have spoken with the boy.” 

“Spoken, okay.” The innkeep said, turning away to wipe down a table. 

Yancy nodded and turned, leaving the inn with a swirl of his cloak. Diana followed him and outside, he directed the people travelling with him to sort things out with the inn. Ordinarily he would have done it but he wanted to meet the chosen one as soon as possible. “Do you think it’s really him?” Diana asked, concealing her excitement with obviously difficulty.

“Only time will tell.” Yancy said. “But I believe fate may have led us to the right place at last, yes.”

The village had a forest on the east, through which they had noted a river running on their way in. Yancy headed there on foot, following a small footpath he’d found behind some houses, of the sort children would use to play in the woods. If his calculations were correct the boy was a little old to be playing knights in the woods, but it was possible he’d been off by a couple of years. 

The woods were quiet and tranquil, likely devoid of any major predators this close to a settlement, and obviously the kind of place local children would often be found. Had the innkeep not told Yancy to look here, he doubtless would have done so fairly quickly in any case. For a while it seemed like he and Diana were in here alone, but soon they could hear the sound of children talking, a boy egging another on by the sounds of it, doubtless in some childish dare of the sort that boys enjoyed. “You’re almost there, Martin. Keep going, keep going.”

“We’ve found them.” Yancy declared, pushing forward and making to move aside some bushes that blocked him from the boys. He was prepared for this. He had long since decided on what he was going to say to the chosen one upon meeting him, a frankly moving speech about fate, justice and destiny. 

“Yancy.” Diana said, a hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps we should wait. It sounds like we’d be interrupting something.”

“Nonsense.” Yancy said. “It’s simply some boys playing in the river. Probably catching frogs or something. Ahead!” And he pushed through the foliage, bursting onto the scene to meet the chosen one. 

There were three of them in a small clearing before the water, and none of them noticed him immediately. Two of the boys were clearly brothers, identical in their colouring and build. The third boy, on his back on the ground, was leaner though not slight, with hair dark as pitch. He bore the Mark on his upper arm, a pattern of overlapping sigils that he probably thought was just a birthmark. 

Yancy could see the Mark because the chosen one, like the other two boys, was stark naked. His legs were being held up by the younger of the two brothers, who was thrusting in an out of the chosen one inexpertly. One of his older brother’s hands was on his back and the other was around the chosen one’s boyhood. He continued to offer encouragement as Yancy stood, struck. “Come on, Martin. You’re right there. Isaac loves it, you’re doing a good job, just…”

The younger boy—Martin—stiffened and let out a cry of childhood ecstasy, and at the same time Isaac moaned a little and splattered himself as he too finished. Martin collapsed on top of Isaac, panting, and Isaac smiled at patted his hair. “Good job.”

“See, I told you it wasn’t hard!” The older brother was saying to Martin, who just nodded weakly. “It just…hey.” The boy had noticed Yancy, and his change in demeanour drew the attention of the other two as well. 

Martin panicked and tried to move away, but Isaac just took his arm and held him there. He himself sat up, legs still spread and smeared with his semen. “Afternoon. You looking for me?”

Yancy tried to remember his prepared speech but found that no words came to mind. Behind him, Diana was no help and for a moment he just stood there, unsure. “I, um…”

The prophecies certainly hadn’t mentioned anything about _this._


	2. Why is the First Step on the Path of Destiny Always the Breaking up of a Family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now switching to Isaac's POV! Where the story will probably stay for the duration. I guess the last part was more of a prologue or something, but mostly it was because I wanted Isaac's actual appearance to be something like a punchline at the end of the traditional setup. 
> 
> Just in case anyone reading that was as interested as I am in narrative structure, which I'm sure everyone is.

“The chosen one?” Isaac asked, not quite getting where the old guy was going with this. He had kind of run off after meeting Isaac earlier and waited for him in the town, apparently unwilling to speak to Isaac until he was dressed and not covered in cum, or at least that was what he’d gathered from the woman with the old guy. Isaac certainly hadn’t been in a hurry to talk to someone with weird hang-ups like that, so he’d finished up with Martin and Michael, letting Michael have two rounds with him before Martin felt up to a second turn. 

All in all, he thought that the loss of Martin’s virginity had gone pretty well, given that he’d practically had to be carried back to the village afterwards. 

When he’d gotten to the inn where the old man was staying, after a quick stopover in the stable to suck off Caleb the stableboy, he’d found him sitting at a back table with his lady friend and Isaac’s parents. And now he was thinking he should have stayed in the woods a little longer. 

“Yes.” The old man, Yancy, said. “Our prophecies have long foretold that one day a child would be born who would unite the three magics and in so doing, protect the world from destruction.” 

“Right.” That sounded like a lot of bunk to Isaac, like one of those stories that you told a little kid to give him good dreams. Apparently Yancy had had a lot of good dreams in his time. “That’s cool, but I’m kind of busy this week, so…”

“Isaac.” His mother said. “Don’t be rude.” 

Isaac gave her a look and then sighed. “Alright. Why do you want to pick me, anyway?”

“We don’t.” Yancy said, rather more emphatically than Isaac thought was necessary. “We aren’t the ones who choose—fate has decreed that you are the chosen one.”

“Fate has a funny sense of humour.”

“You have the Mark.” Diana said. Isaac liked her a bit more than Yancy, if only because she seemed able to actually look at him while talking. “On your shoulder.”

“My birthmark?” God, this was starting to sound like the beginning of some hackneyed quest story. Isaac had never seen the point of those stories, even when he’d been younger. “Lots of people have birthmarks.”

“Not many of them have birthmarks in shapes representing the ancient unity of magic from time immemorial, shattered by human ambition in a misguided attempt to make gods of the mortal.”

Isaac blinked. “No.” He said, a little impressed that Diana had managed to say all of that with a straight face. “I wouldn’t think so.” It just looked like a bunch of squiggles to him. 

“So what does this mean for our son?” Isaac’s father asked. “You’re saying he’s some sort of wizard…”

“Mage.” Yancy corrected. “Very different things.”

“They’re very similar things.” Diana said with a glance at Yancy. “But yes, not the same. The difference…”

“Does the difference matter to regular people?” Isaac asked, interrupting her. 

Diana looked at him for a moment and smiled. “No.” 

“Okay. Well, I don’t have any magical powers.” Isaac told them. “If I did, don’t you think I might have noticed by now?” 

“Not necessarily.” Yancy declared. “Children often develop into their magical potential around your age. Soon enough you will start to notice...”

“Dad already gave me the hair and sweat talk, thanks.” Isaac cut him off. “And I’m not as young as you think I am.” It wasn’t his fault people thought he was younger than he was—he had a boyish face. 

“So I’ve noticed.” Yancy muttered quietly. Isaac didn’t hide the fact that he was glaring. 

“My question.” Isaac’s father said, in his ‘I am on the village council’ voice. 

“The boy will have to come with us.” Yancy said matter-of-factly. “Even were he not the chosen one, mages are trained at the academy in the capital. The unique situation makes it all the more imperative that he be taken somewhere safe immediately.”

“Now hold on.” Isaac’s mother said, in her ‘I have a pack of hunting dogs who will kill you’ voice. “You can’t simply take our son away from us like this.”

“I’m afraid we can, ma’am.” Yancy said. “We…”

“Yancy.” Diana cut him off, turning to Isaac’s mother. “Ma’am. Magic is very dangerous. You wouldn’t give a sword to someone without telling them how to use it, and this is the same way—if he’s not trained, he will become dangerous both to himself and to everyone around him.” 

“So I won’t use the sword.” Isaac said, wishing they would stop treating him like an incompetent little boy. “All I have to do is not use any magic and it will be fine.”

“It’s not that simple, boy.” Yancy said. “Magic is an innate…”

“I have a _name._ ” Isaac said, standing suddenly. Yancy wanted to say he was some chosen one on one hand and act like he barely existed on the other and it was pissing him off. Diana and Yancy both gave him alarmed looks, and Isaac thought that of course now they’d take notice of him, now that he wasn’t behaving the way they’d expected. “You don’t get to just show up here and tell me what my life is going to be like. That’s not how it works.”

“I beg to differ.” Yancy said. “This is exactly how it works. You’re a mage, you’re the chosen one, and you’re coming with us whether you like it or not.”

“Fuck you.” Isaac spoke with quite a bit of heat, and Yancy’s tankard of ale cracked in half, spilling its contents all over the table. All of them went silent and just watched it. 

“Usually.” Diana said into the silence, after a minute. “Usually people we find are excited when we tell them this. They’re excited at the idea of going to the capital and learning magic.”

“Good for them.” Isaac said, wondering if sitting down again would negate the power of his declaration a minute ago. “Go kidnap some of them instead.” 

“Nobody is being kidnapped.” Diana told him, and Isaac was starting to like her a lot less now that he recognized that her job was to be reasonable after Yancy was done being unreasonable. “And it isn’t forever, either. Training takes two or three years and then you’d be done, you could come back here if that was what you wanted.”

That sounded like it wasn’t as true as she was making it out to be, but Isaac couldn’t put a finger on why. “If I’m so important why can’t you teach me here?”

“Because that is not the way that it is done.” Yancy intoned, and Isaac had never heard a person actually intone before, but Yancy was doing it. “You must be trained in the ancient traditions of our order, as have all mages before you and as all mages after you will be.”

“I’m not going to have to start talking like you, am I?”

“Isaac.” His mom said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I know.” Isaac sat, rested his head in his hands. The fight had gone out of him and now he just felt tired. “Go away.” He said to Yancy and Diana.

“Isaac, we just want…” Diana started.

“I said, fuck off.” He interrupted. “I want to talk to my parents.” 

The two of them looked at each other, but got up and left their table without another word. Maybe Isaac could somehow train them to do that on command. Mom had taught him a fair bit about training dogs. 

“Son, you’re going to have to go with them.” His father said after a minute, and he sounded so angry that it made Isaac upset.

“I don’t want to leave.” He said, and Isaac could feel tears gathering in his eyes. He wasn’t disagreeing, just saying what he felt. 

“We know you don’t.” Mom said. “But Isaac…”

“I know.” They didn’t want this any more than he did, but it was hard, it was really hard to have to hear them telling him why he had to go. And that upset him more because if he’d just accepted what he’d been told, he wouldn’t have put them in a position to have to do that. It had to hurt them just as much. 

“Isaac, you got angry and Yancy’s tankard broke.”

“Yeah.” Isaac said, looking at the puddle on the table. He could already feel what little control he’d had over his life being taken away. “I know.”


	3. The First Day of a Journey Sets the Tone for All the Days to Come

“We love you, Isaac.”

“I know.” Isaac hugged both his parents for a long time, trying not to let tears show again. “I love you guys too. I’ll come back as soon as they let me, promise.”

“We know you will.” His father said, holding him tightly. “Be careful.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“We know.” 

It was a few more minutes after that before they let each other go and Isaac was allowed to mount the little horse they’d given him to ride, which he did with a fair bit of difficulty. 

The first few hours of the trip were passed in silence, mostly because Isaac stared at the ground dourly and wouldn’t talk to anyone. So far this chosen one business pretty much sucked. Instead of dwelling on that he tried to think about how sore he was from the going-away party the village’s boys had thrown for him last night down by the river. He’d barely been able to walk after they were all finished and had had to be supported back to his house. It was a good kind of sore and thinking about it made Isaac smile a little bit despite himself. 

“That’s the first I’ve seen you smile all day.”

Isaac started a little in his saddle, and the horse tossed its head in agitation. Isaac was pretty sure the horse didn’t like him, but that wasn’t the point at hand. The speaker was a few years older than Isaac, and was trying to grow one of those narrow beards that he thought looked silly. Yancy and Diana had lots of people travelling with them, and Isaac thought this one was one of their students or some sort of assistant. He was kind of cute, though. “You’ve been watching me, have you?” 

“It’s a bit hard not to—you may as well have painted ‘don’t talk to me’ on your head. I was starting to worry.”

It was pretty clear that none of these people were all that worried about Isaac’s well-being. “I’m fine.”

“Mm-hm.” He nodded. “What made you smile?”

“Does it matter?”

“Sure, I’d like to try and repeat it so that you don’t have to seem so miserable.” 

Isaac just looked at him for a minute. “I was thinking about something else.” He said, after a while. “My friends.”

The young man nodded in understanding. “You will make new friends, you know. There are lots of students at the academy.”

“I like the friends I already have.” 

“I’m sure you do, but they’re not coming with you.”

Isaac looked away from the man, down at the road again. 

“You don’t find all of this at least a little bit exciting?”

“Did you, when they kidnapped you?” 

“They didn’t kidnap me, I went to them. They didn’t kidnap you, either.”

“Really?” Isaac challenged, getting annoyed. “So what happens if I turn around right now and just go home?” 

The man looked at him for a second, colouring a little. “Okay, I take your point, but you’re making it sound a lot worse than it is.”

“And you’re making it sound like I should be happy that someone swooped into my life and took me away from my family. I’m done talking to you.” 

“Isaac.” He said, but Isaac turned his head and made it clear he wasn’t listening. “This is a good thing for you in the long run, I think you know that.”

Isaac continued to ignore him. “My name’s Oliver. I’m Yancy’s apprentice, if you were wondering.”

Isaac hadn’t been, but it was nice to have a name, he supposed, and the fact that he worked for Yancy specifically made Isaac like him less. Oliver kept trying to talk to him but Isaac steadfastly refused to pay attention, until he finally gave up and went away. 

Only for a short time, though—Oliver came and sat beside him later when they had stopped to eat lunch. He didn’t say anything at first, and Isaac ignored him to continue his survey of all the servants and guards who were with them, mentally ranking them all. “Planning on fighting your way through them all?”

Isaac shook his head. “Trying to decide which of them is the most likely to invite me into his tent tonight.”

Isaac wasn’t looking at Oliver but felt him stiffen on the log they were sharing. “Is that something you’ve been worried about? None of them are like that.”

“I have a pretty good record of fixing that.” Isaac smirked. He turned and looked at Oliver for the first time since this morning, making no secret of the fact that he was assessing him. “You’re pretty high up on my list, but you’d have to promise not to talk.” The way Oliver coloured at that was pretty adorable, if Isaac was honest.

“I’m not…I’m not interested in y—in that.” Oliver stammered, inching away from Isaac. 

“Okay.” Isaac stood, leaving Oliver alone and wandering over to introduce himself to a knot of servants who were doing something with the horses. 

The sun was sinking in the sky the next time anyone made an effort to speak with him. “We’re going to be stopping to camp soon.” Diana told him, riding up beside him. Isaac hoped that someday he would also know how to make his horse go faster or slower. Or where he wanted, that would be good too.

“Mm-hm.” Isaac was watching the birds that were flitting back and forth between the trees, wondering why they hadn’t migrated south yet. 

“So you’ve made friends with Oliver, have you?”

“Have I?”

“He wants to sleep with you.” Isaac looked up at her in surprise, thinking that was awfully fast, but she continued. “Maybe a poor choice of words. We were talking about where to put you for the night and he offered to share his tent with you.” 

Isaac just sort of looked at Diana for a second, thinking about that. And he laughed. “Is that funny?”

“No, Diana. Like most people, I laugh when I’m unhappy.” Isaac snickered. 

“What’s funny about it?” 

“Nothing.” Isaac managed to get himself under control a little bit, settling for a wide grin. “This is just going to be so much _fun._ ”

Later, when it had gotten fully dark and dinner was over, Yancy called out that they were leaving in the early morning and should all get some sleep. He had managed, through all of dinner, to not actually look at or talk to Isaac, which suited Isaac just fine as he’d only been eating with the old man because someone had come to fetch him when he’d tried to sit with some of the guards. 

Oliver sort of appeared at Isaac’s shoulder as people stood to find their tents. “Um, we don’t have a tent for you yet so they put you in mine. Hope that’s okay?”

“Of course.” Isaac smiled, stepped a little closer to Oliver. “I heard you asked for me.” 

“Well, I…” Isaac just watched Oliver try to control himself. “Not like that. I just…”

“You’re trying to protect my virtue, I get it.” That was why it was funny. He resisted the urge to let Oliver know he was a couple of years too late for that one. “Lead the way, my noble protector.” He made sure his voice was loud enough that the possibility of being overheard was very real. 

Oliver led him to a tent and opened the flap for Isaac. Inside, two bedrolls had been set up and Oliver’s bag was at the head of one. Isaac moved it and put his own bag there as Oliver followed him in. “You’re wrong, by the way.” He said.

“About what?”

“You think this is going to keep me away from other people. You’re underestimating my ability to sneak out on you.” 

“I’m a pretty light sleeper.”

“You’re also overestimating how much I care about what you want me to do.” Isaac started stripping out of his clothes, tossing them carelessly in a pile by his bag. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Oliver sounded alarmed, like he’d never seen someone undress before. 

“Taking off my clothes. You don’t expect me to sleep fully dressed, do you?” 

“Of course not, but…” 

“Besides.” Isaac kicked his smallclothes onto the pile and turned to face Oliver, hands on his hips. “I always sleep naked.”

“Well, um.” Oliver was clearly wrestling with something and Isaac just sat down on his bedroll, watching him. “Okay, I guess.” Isaac sat there and watched as he self-consciously took off his own shirt and, after a full minute of clear hesitation, his pants as well, leaving Oliver in an undershirt and his smallclothes. Isaac wondered if Oliver had ever shared a tent with someone before, and if he’d thought through the consequences of his wonderful plan. 

Oliver lay down and shuttered the lamp, putting the tent into darkness. Oliver waited a few seconds before crawling over and worming his way under Oliver’s blanket to sleep beside him. “Hey, what are you doing?” 

“I sleep better when I’m beside someone.” Isaac said simply, snuggling up under one of Oliver’s arms and throwing one leg over Oliver’s. 

“Well…”

“Besides, this way you can be sure I won’t leave in the middle of the night.” 

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“You said I’d make friends.” Isaac reminded him.

“Not with me!”

“You don’t want to be my friend, Oliver?” Isaac asked, wiggling a little. “That makes me sad.”

“I do, but not like this. I…you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“You’re very observant.” 

“You’re a bit evil.” 

“Yeah.” Isaac smiled in the darkness. At least he could do this, make the situation suck a little bit less. For himself, anyway. “Get used to it.”


	4. Being the Chosen One Isn't All Fun and Games

Isaac came just after the guard, splattering his hand as hot streams of seed were shot into his mouth and down his throat. “Oh, God, Isaac.” The guard pulled back suddenly and the last spurt his Isaac in between the eyes. “Sorry, kid.”

Standing, Isaac smiled at the guard and licked his hand clean, pulling up his smallclothes—the only thing he was wearing—with his other hand. “You’ve got pretty good aim. If you want, next time you should shoot all of it on my face.” 

“Oh, God.” The guard slumped back against the wall of the inn they were staying at tonight. He had a sort of squarish face and pretty eyes, and his name was Lyle. “I’m going to hell and it’s completely because of you.”

“Worth it, though, right?”

“Very much worth it.” Lyle straightened and tucked himself back into his uniform as Isaac continued to clean his hand. “You’re better at that than my girl back home, you know.”

“I know.” Isaac smirked, though he’d never met the girl. “I’ve had a lot of practice.” 

“God.” Lyle reached out and tucked Isaac back into his smallclothes, helping him pull them the rest of the way up. Isaac reached up and scooped the last of Lyle’s mess of his face, sucking it off his fingers without breaking eye contact. “You should get back inside.” Lyle told him with a shudder. “You’re covered in goosebumps.” 

He wasn’t wrong; it was actually pretty chilly out. “Okay.” He smiled again. “See you soon.”

“For sure.” As they turned to go back around the building, Lyle gave Isaac a friendly pat on the backside, which immediately changed into a much more friendly grope. 

“Oh.” Isaac said, wiggling a little. “And you said you weren’t interested.” 

“I may have changed my mind.”

“There’s still time if you’d like to get a little closer.”

“Maybe next time.” Lyle said, letting go with reluctance. “You’ve distracted me enough for the night. Go back to bed.” 

“Okay.” With one last look at Lyle, Isaac ducked back into the dark inn and snuck up the stairs to the room he was sharing with Oliver. All of this would be so much easier if Oliver would just fuck him like a normal person, but even after four nights together he remained stubbornly attached to his decency. 

“There you are.” The voice called to him quietly from the bottom of the stairs and Isaac turned around, sighing. He recognized Oliver’s voice even at a whisper. “Where were you?”

“Using the latrine.” Isaac said. “Told you that when I left.” Oliver hadn’t been lying about being a light sleeper, which was kind of annoying. He woke up every time Isaac so much as moved. It would also have been nice if he could have just gone back to sleep on hearing Isaac’s reason (which was true, that was why he’d left initially). 

“You were gone an awfully long time.” Oliver trotted up the stairs until he was level with Isaac. “I went to look for you but didn’t find you.”

“I ran into a friend.” Isaac told him, turning away and taking the rest of the staircase. “Also you didn’t need to go looking for me, I’m not a kid.”

“What in the world could you have been talking about with anyone at this time of night?”

Isaac rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wasn’t sure if Oliver was genuinely unaware of what he got up to or if he was just good at pretending. 

“I’ll show you if you want.” He said as they reached the door to their room. Oliver just sort of huffed and Isaac snickered as he pushed the door open.

There was a man standing in their room, knife in his hand. “What the…?” 

“Isaac.” Oliver put a hand on Isaac’s shoulder and pulled him back, but the man raised his knife to throw it. 

“Oliver!” Isaac threw out his arm to push Oliver out of the way and dove into the room, the knife flying past his shoulder. “Shit.”

“Sorry, kid.” Their attacker said, pulling out another knife and approaching Isaac with it raised, his intent clear. 

“Shit, shit, shit.” Isaac stumbled backwards, away from the knife, and tripped over something, ending up on the floor. With the impact, just for the barest instant, he could see what looked like a web of glowing threads running through everything and reached out to grab one on instinct. 

All at once his attacker’s clothes burst into flame and he screamed, dropping his knife and batting at the fire uselessly, dropping to the ground to try and put the flames out. Isaac sat there, too stunned to do anything but watch. 

“Isaac!” Oliver was standing in the doorway and doing something with the threads that Isaac could still faintly make out. The fire went out and all Isaac could think was that Oliver had made dousing it a lot more complicated than it had needed to be. Their attacker had passed out and Oliver checked his breathing quickly before stepping over him to get to Isaac. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Isaac said, shaking as Oliver helped him stand. “He didn’t touch me. Are you okay?” 

“I’m a little bruised; you threw me about halfway down the hall.”

“I didn’t…”

“What’s going on in here?” Yancy appeared in the doorway, wearing a ridiculous looking dressing gown. He looked at Oliver and Isaac and then at the man on the floor and swept inside, followed by Diana and a few others, examining their attacker. “Take him away, heal his burns.” Yancy ordered. “I want to know who had him come here tonight.” 

“You’re lucky you’re not hurt.” Diana said as servants went to follow Yancy’s orders. “Oliver, I don’t know that you had to light him on fire, though.”

“I didn’t.” Oliver told her, tilting his head at Isaac. 

Diana’s eyebrows rose and she glanced up at Yancy, who was looking at Isaac despite himself. “How?”

“I just…there were some threads and I just…”

“Hm.” Yancy huffed. “Those weren’t ‘threads,’ boy. What you saw were the Pillars—the sources of magic. You must have tapped into one without knowing it.”

“That’s impressive, isn’t it?” Oliver asked, looking from Isaac to Yancy. “It was something like six months before I could even see the threads during my training.”

“That’s about right for most students, yes.” Diana said, smiling. “I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Still, it’s a good thing you woke up before anything could happen.”

“I wasn’t in the room when he got here.” Isaac said vaguely, not really taking most of this in. “I’d gone to…to the latrine.” 

“That probably saved your life, then. You are alright, yes?” 

Isaac nodded. “Oliver’s a light sleeper.” He mumbled. “He would have woken up.”

“I shall have a guard posted at your door.” Yancy announced, looking around the room, which now smelled like smoke. “We won’t allow this to happen again.” And he swept out of the room in an annoyed huff, as if someone trying to put holes in Isaac was a personal affront to him. 

“But why…” Isaac called out, but Yancy had left, so he turned to Diana. “Why would someone want to do that?”

“The idea of the chosen one isn’t something everyone’s been looking forward to. Consider, you don’t like mages, and someone’s come along who’s prophesied to strengthen their power and influence. What would you do?”

“Well, I wouldn’t kill him!” Isaac said, his voice a little shrill. He cleared his throat. “I mean, I see what you’re saying, though.” 

Diana nodded. “We’ll talk more about this later. For now, there’s a guard at the door, so it’s safe to go to sleep, okay?”

“Okay.”

She nodded again, gave them both one last look. “Good work, both of you. Goodnight.” And she left the room, following after Yancy. 

“We should go back to bed.” Oliver said, letting go of Isaac and crossing the small room to the bed they’d been sharing. 

“Yeah.” Isaac just stood there for a minute, not sure he could move.

“Isaac?”

“Yeah.” Isaac shook his head, started towards Oliver and stopped, turned and sat on the room’s other bed instead. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not…” Isaac trailed off, and it took him a minute to remember to keep talking. “I’m not going to be able to sleep. I’m just going to keep you awake over there.” 

“You’re going to keep me awake over there too, Isaac, unless you plan to sit perfectly still and not make any noise.”

Isaac blinked, and Oliver gestured for him to come over, so he did, settling in at Oliver’s side with his head on Oliver’s shoulder. “I knew you liked sleeping with me.”

“Now you’re starting to sound normal again.” Oliver pulled the blanket over them and shuttered the lamp, but Isaac didn’t close his eyes. “You’re okay now, I promise.”

“Yeah, I know.” Isaac said. It wasn’t that he was scared necessarily. He just…didn’t understand what was happening. He hadn’t understood what was happening to him since he’d met Yancy and Diana, and Isaac didn’t like that. “You’re okay too, right?”

“I’m okay too.”

“Okay.” After a few minutes Oliver fell asleep, and Isaac just lay there until morning, listening to him breathe.


	5. What Kind of Quest Narrative Doesn't Have the Mandatory Dry Training Session?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boring, boring, this one ended up a bit dull, which might have been unavoidable? The next chapter will not be boring, really.

“The Pillars are the three sources of magic for mages.” Diana explained to Isaac as they rode. “They represent Light, Shadow and Darkness. We draw energy from them in order to cast spells.” 

“If those are the only three things, how do you light stuff on fire or make it rain or anything?” Isaac asked. He hadn’t been looking for a lecture, but after three days of deliberating amongst themselves, Diana and Yancy had decided that it was best if he at least knew what was going on. 

“We’re not using those three things directly—though we can—it’s more like we’re drawing the energy that’s inherent in light, or in shadow or darkness.” 

That didn’t make any sense to Isaac, but he nodded. He wasn’t sure he was in the mood for this. He was getting hungry and his backside was sore, and not in the good way. Riding all day for a week was harder on him than he’d realized. “I saw more than three threads.”

“That’s a common misperception.” Diana said quickly. “Because the Pillars run through everything, it’s not unusual to see what looks like several different threads of power. But it’s all the same thing.”

“Okay.” Isaac had only caught a glimpse of them but they hadn’t all looked the same to him, but what did he know? “So I used one of the Pillars the other night?”

“Yes, I don’t suppose you noticed which one?” When Isaac shook his head, Diana just smiled. “Obviously not. Most mages can only use one. The powerful ones can use two. In theory, you should be able to use all three.” 

“And that’s why people want to kill me?” It didn’t seem worth killing for to him.

“Yes, put simply.” Diana nodded. “It’s a very threatening idea to a lot of people.”

“Who?”

“Other magic practitioners, mostly.” She said. “There are ordinary folk who dislike magic or dislike the academy or what have you, but it’s most likely to be them.” 

“They’re worried that you’re going to show them up?” 

“There are groups within each larger group of practitioners who worry that you existing means that we’ll become more powerful than they are.” 

Isaac turned and just looked at Diana for a second, not sure if she realized that what she’d said didn’t make any sense. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t do light magic. No matter how powerful I am, I can’t touch Light, and so there are certain spells I can’t do. Yancy can’t touch Darkness, and we’re both quite strong. Supposedly, not only can you touch all three, but after mastering them you could teach the rest of us how to do it as well.”

“Ah.” Now Isaac understood, a little bit. “So what, people are worried that you finding me means that I’ll teach all of you how to kick their asses.”

“That’s it in a nutshell.” Diana agreed. “We assume that’s why that man tried to kill you the other night.” 

“Has he said anything?”

“No.” The look on Diana’s face said there was something else to that. 

“Why not?” Isaac understood that people had secrets—really he did. But if someone was going to try and kill him, he thought he had a right to know what was going on. 

Diana looked at him for a very long minute and shook her head. “It’s not something you need to worry about.”

“Really?” 

“Really, Isaac.”

“When I ask Oliver tonight, will he say the same thing?” Isaac asked politely. “Bearing in mind that he’s a terrible liar? When I ask the guards who were watching over him what will they tell me?”

Diana just looked at him again, a little sadly. “He killed himself this morning.” 

“What…” Isaac didn’t know what to say. Why would he have done that? What could have compelled him to kill himself rather than answer questions? Isaac fell silent, watching the road for a while. 

Diana gave him a few minutes before speaking again. “Anyway, since you’ve already started using magic, I’d like you to at least learn how to see the Pillars, if only so you can _not_ touch them until someone teaches you how to do it without igniting people’s clothing.” 

Isaac nodded dully, seeing the logic in what she was saying. And hoping that this wasn’t at least in part so that he could stop more people from trying to kill him in the future. 

“Okay, I want you to try clearing your mind of unnecessary thoughts.” She said, taking on a more lecturing tone. “What you need to do is see past the physical aspect of the world, to the energy that makes it run underneath.” 

The rest of Isaac’s day was nothing but a protracted lesson on seeing the world and clearing his mind, all of which ultimately amounted to nothing and left him with a worry about what his days were going to be like once they reached the capital. “Don’t worry.” Diana said when the sun had started to go down. “Nobody gets this on their first day, even the gifted students can take a few months. I’d like you to practice thinking about nothing for a little while before you to go sleep, and if you have time when you wake up in the morning. It’s a good habit to get into.”

“I’ll try.” Isaac promised, not sure he really understood what ‘thinking about nothing’ actually meant. 

“Good. We’ll be stopping soon, which should be a blessing. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired from all the riding.”

Isaac nodded, trying to return her smile. Nothing that had happened to him was her fault, no need to glower at her like a baby. “Resting definitely isn’t the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Soon enough we’ll be in the capital.” She promised him. “Then this will all get at least a little easier.”

“Yeah.” Isaac agreed, trying not to sound halfhearted. “I can’t wait.”


	6. Friends Who are Hard to Read Make Good Life Decisions Harder to Recognize

Every couple of days after supper, Isaac had noticed, Oliver disappeared for a few minutes. It had taken a while for Isaac to see that, since he also disappeared for a few minutes after supper, usually with one or two others to keep him sufficiently distracted as not to notice what others were doing. But now that he’d noticed it Isaac wanted to follow Oliver—because anyone with a brain could figure out why, but he wanted to see. 

So follow him he did, into the sparse woods they were travelling through. Isaac really hadn’t realized how far from the capital his village was, and was starting to wonder if they were ever actually going to get there. He’d never seen a lot of these types of trees before, though admittedly trees weren’t something that Isaac tended to pay attention to. 

It took about two minutes to find Oliver, his back to a tree, his pants and smallclothes around his knees, holding his shirt out of the way with his teeth (a detail Isaac particularly enjoyed) and jerking himself so hard that Isaac actually thought it might hurt a little. 

Isaac snuck around another tree to get a better view, crouching and hiding behind a little bush so that Oliver wouldn’t see him. He would make noise if he touched himself too, so Isaac just sat there and put up with the tightness in his pants, focused on committing what he was seeing to memory for later. 

Isaac obviously should have been a little faster in following after Oliver, though. It only took him a minute or so to finish, carefully pointing his cock away from himself so he would spurt all over the ground, which Isaac thought was kind of a waste. He slumped against the tree for a minute, panting, before picking up some fallen leaves to wipe himself off and fixing his clothes. Quietly, Isaac stood, moving into the open, and Oliver didn’t see him until he spoke. “Hi there.” 

Oliver started, nearly banged his head on the tree and messed up lacing up his pants, which sagged a little until he fixed them. “Isaac!” 

Isaac just stood there and smiled. “So you do know how that part works.” 

“Of course I do, just…ugh.” Oliver started lacing himself up again rather more aggressively. “Were you just there watching?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?” Isaac just shrugged, and Oliver huffed, finishing with his pants and turning away. “You could use a lesson in privacy, and personal space.” 

“I’ve never really seen the point of those things.” Isaac said honestly. 

“Let’s go back to the camp.” Oliver muttered. “It’s getting dark and it’s not safe for you to be out here alone.”

“I’m not alone, you’re here.” 

“You know what I mean.”

“Why don’t you want to have sex with me?”

Oliver stopped, turned and faced Isaac. “What?”

“You heard me, Oliver. I’ve been wondering for a while, I want to know.” He’d been wondering since about twenty minutes after he’d met Oliver, actually. Isaac wasn’t used to meeting people who were so disinterested in him like that. 

Oliver sighed. “You’re a kid, Isaac.” 

“Oh.” Isaac said, his tone going cold. So Oliver thought he was a kid too. Great, because he didn’t get enough of that from literally everyone. “Okay, fine.” He started walking back in the direction of the camp, turning away from Oliver. 

“No, Isaac.” Oliver followed after him quickly. “Shit. No, that’s not what I mean. I just mean that you’re younger than me.”

“Not that much younger.” Isaac snapped, picking up his pace. 

“And if you were a few years older I’d…Isaac, wait for me, god.” Isaac ignored him, but Oliver had longer legs than he did and caught up, grabbing Isaac’s shoulder. “Where are you going?”

“Back to camp.” Isaac glared. “It’s not safe out here, remember? Have to get back to my babysitters so someone can tuck me into bed. Maybe if I’m good they’ll tell me a bedtime story first.”

“Isaac, that isn’t what I meant and you know it.” Isaac so rarely saw Oliver annoyed that he took note, but he wasn’t going to let that get in the way of his own annoyance.

“I don’t care.” Isaac shook Oliver’s hand off and stalked away. “There are plenty of people back there who don’t care that I’m younger than they are.” 

“I wish you wouldn’t.” Oliver called after him. “I wish you wouldn’t be so casual about that with everyone.” 

“What you want doesn’t really matter that much to me anymore.”

“But why?” Oliver asked. “Why is it that you need to do that with so many people? I don’t get it.”

Now Isaac sighed, stopping and turning to face Oliver. “It’s not complicated, Oliver. It’s fun, I like it. Sex is awesome, in case nobody’s ever told you. Why shouldn’t I do it with people?”

“I…fine.” Oliver shook his head, waving Isaac back to the camp. “Obviously you’re not going to let me stop you.”

“I’m really not.” Isaac turned and stalked away, found someone a little more reasonable to talk to. 

Afterwards, though, he had to return to his tent because there was supposed to be a guard on him and his partner was worried he’d get in trouble if Isaac were found in the wrong place. Sighing and grumbling to himself, Isaac snuck through the darkness until he found where he was supposed to be and saluted the guard who was in front of the tent, who looked awfully surprised that Isaac was out here, and went in. 

The lantern was out and Oliver didn’t move when Isaac came in, but Isaac knew he was awake because he always was. Isaac lay himself down on the other side of the tent, as far away as he could be without actually pushing at the canvas. “You’re not even going to sleep beside me now that you can’t get what you want?” Oliver’s voice cut through the darkness and Isaac closed his eyes.

“I was only doing that to upset you.” He admitted. “I don’t see the point anymore.” He pulled a blanket over himself and rolled over, putting his back to Oliver and pretending it wasn’t chilly. 

“I’m sorry.” Oliver said into the darkness. Isaac pretended to be asleep. “For what I said earlier. There’s really nothing wrong with what you do. It’s just I worry you’re going to get hurt.”

Isaac didn’t answer, but Oliver apparently saw that as an invitation. “That wasn’t…what I said back in the woods, about you being too young. That wasn’t the real reason why I don’t want to. I’m worried that…when we get to the capital you probably won’t see me very much anymore. I was just worried that you’d…”

“Pine after you like an idiot?”

Oliver was silent for a moment and Isaac wondered if the man had actually thought him asleep. “Or that I would pine after you. I knew it wouldn’t mean much to you, but it would to me and then it would just…hurt, after.”

“You really don’t understand, do you?” Isaac sat up, looking over at Oliver’s form. “It would have meant something. It always means something to me. No, I wouldn’t be planning our wedding, but it’s just…” Isaac sighed, threw himself back onto his bedroll and wrapped the blanket around himself tightly. “Just something I do with people I like.” 

Oliver was silent for several minutes and Isaac just sort of lay there and felt like an idiot. “Isaac.” He said finally, voice quiet. “Come over here and sleep.”

“No.”

“Fine.” He could hear Oliver moving around and suddenly there was weight and a heat source behind him, and Oliver wrapped his arms around Isaac. “That’s better, isn’t it?”

“Go away.” Isaac mumbled, without any feeling. Oliver had chased the chill away pretty quickly. 

“Let me think about what you said for a couple of days, okay?”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to do anything just because I’m weird.” Isaac said firmly. “If you don’t want to that’s fine. Just give me a bit to stop being embarrassed about it and I’ll be fine.” 

“I said let me think about it. I’ll let you know when I decide.”

And in the meantime Oliver was just going to leave Isaac confused and not sure how to deal with him. And continue sending him mixed signals and just being generally…there, and upsetting. Isaac knew he should just tell Oliver it wasn’t going to happen, let the matter die and just be not-touching friends with him. 

“Okay.” 

Isaac was starting to consider the possibility that good life decisions weren’t something he was very good at.


	7. Life in the City Operates at a Faster Pace than out in the Country

Isaac was well aware that he was staring at everything like a stupid village boy, but he couldn’t much help himself. As they got closer to the capital everything seemed to get bigger; the towns, the buildings, the number of people. Everything was just so much _more_ than he was used to and it was hard not to want to look around at all of it. 

At some point, though, while he was looking around, the whole rest of his party managed to get themselves lost. 

Isaac blinked, looking up and down the busy street he was on, trying to find out where Yancy and Diana and all the rest of them had gone. Obviously they’d just assumed he was keeping up with them. Okay, maybe he’d been a little on the slow side as he looked around at things, but _really_? They were supposedly worried about his safety and making guards follow him everywhere, but somehow all of them had just not noticed that Isaac wasn’t with them anymore?

Thank God Isaac was responsible, at least. 

Refusing to panic, Isaac just kept walking along this same road, figuring that if they’d been on it, this must be the street the needed to take to get wherever they were going. Which he didn’t actually know where that was, but Yancy had mentioned an inn called the _Whitehorn_ , and how many inns could a city have? It was probably in the town square or whatever the equivalent was in a bigger city. 

Maybe if he’d been riding his horse still this wouldn’t have been such a problem, but he’d elected to walk once they got into the city because they weren’t moving that fast anyway and saddle sores were really not fun at all. Somebody probably should have mentioned to him that they party would leave him behind if he were afoot. 

If this was the type of care he could expect from his supervisors at the mages’ academy, Isaac was concerned for his future well-being.

On the other hand, if this was the kind of supervision he was going to be under, Isaac thought he’d have a much better time at the academy than he’d expected. Apparently the students all slept in dormitories and, well. Once Isaac had realized he was going to be living and sleeping in close quarters with a whole cohort of other boys, the whole idea hadn’t seemed so bad at all. Yancy and Diana insisted that they dormitories were supervised, but now that didn’t seem like something Isaac was going to have to worry about. 

Isaac was lost in thought as he walked and didn’t notice someone running towards him from behind until they were right beside him. “Here.” Said the runner in a breathless voice. “Take this.” He shoved a small bag into Isaac’s hand and kept running, leaving Isaac standing there in the street plus one bag but very confused.

“There he is!” A loud voice called out, and Isaac looked up to see an angry-looking man pointing at him. “He’s got it in his hand!” 

Two or three men were suddenly running towards Isaac and he looked from them to the bag. “Shit. No. Wait!”

They didn’t wait, and Isaac was worried about what they’d do if they caught him, so he ran too, after the person who’d given it to him. Isaac could still see him, weaving through the crowd up ahead, no longer running. 

Because of that Isaac caught up with him pretty easily. “Hey!” He called.

“What the…” The person—a boy—glanced back at Isaac and, eyes widening, started to run again. 

“Hey, wait!” Isaac shouted, catching up with him and keeping pace. He’d always been a fast runner. 

“Don’t follow me, you idiot!” The boy growled. He was small and bright-eyed, but his head was wrapped up in a scarf. “Now they’ll catch both of us! And more importantly they’ll catch me!”

“Should have thought of that before.” Isaac panted

“Damnit.” The boy cast around, turned suddenly and darted into what looked like a stable. Isaac grabbed his collar to make sure the boy didn’t outpace him, and the two of them ran through the stable, out into a small yard in the back that featured some tools, a few stone walls, bales of hay and a tall fence with no gate. “Shit. This is your fault. Help me over the fence.”

Isaac could already hear their pursuers barreling through the stable. “No time for that.” Instead he pushed the boy into a wall off to one side and kissed him, remembering the bag in his hand just as the men burst into the yard. To hide it, he quickly shoved his hand down the thief’s pants, definitely not smiling at the adorable yelp that he got into his mouth in response. 

“God.” Isaac pulled away from the boy when the men came through the door, trying to look embarrassed. “Max. You said nobody ever comes out here. I could have done this on the street for all the privacy we’re getting.”

“It’s…it’s usually empty.” The boy said, flushed, eyes darting between Isaac and the three men. He had a handful of Isaac’s shirt clutched in his fist.

The men had only seen Isaac from behind, so they didn’t appear to recognize him. “Who else has been through?” One of them demanded.

“Dunno, two other guys.” Isaac grumbled, feigning annoyance. “They went over the fence. What, do they owe you money or something?”

“Nevermind about that.” The man who had spoken sighed. “We’re not going to catch them now. Let’s go back. Sorry for the intrusion, boys.” He smirked at them in a way that was hard for Isaac not to return, and the three of them went back into the stable.

As soon as they were alone again the boy shoved Isaac back with a huff, wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve. “I can’t believe that worked. Plans conceived by idiots.” He looked at Isaac. “You always stick your hand down someone’s pants when you first meet him?”

“If he asks me to.” Isaac took a moment to take in the boy. He was wrapped up in coats and more than one scarf, but he had a pretty cute face. Isaac shrugged and smiled charmingly, enjoying the flush that was on the boy’s cheeks. “You always try to get people arrested when you first meet them?”

“Sorry about that.” The boy muttered, straightening his clothes. He clearly wanted to reach into his pants and pull out his bag, but just as clearly was hesitant to do it. “I wouldn’t normally have done that, but I wasn’t expecting to be seen. They were chasing me and I figured, you know. They’d take it from you and I could steal it again later.”

“You left out the part where they arrest me in the meantime.”

“Yeah, yeah. But I mean I would have been okay in the end if you hadn’t screwed it up.” 

“Well, sorry about that.” It was a good thing he was cute, Isaac thought. “I’m Isaac.”

“Jacob. And, you know. Thanks for the help and all.” 

“No problem. Can I kiss you again?”

“No!” Jacob practically leapt back into the wall, his hands covering his groin rather than his mouth. “I mean. You’re surprisingly good at it and everything. But I’ve got stuff to do. Important stuff.”

“Other people you need to rob?”

“Of course not!” Jacob huffed, crossed his arms. “Not until later, anyway.” 

“Okay. Well, I…”

“I mean.” Jacob interrupted suddenly. “I guess if you wanted to kiss me again I would let you. Since I was distracted the first time. I’m normally better at it than I was. You know, just then.”

Isaac smiled. “Okay. I’m sure you’ll do better this time.” He leaned in and captured Jacob’s mouth again, a little surprised when Jacob immediately kissed back, arms wrapping around Isaac. He actually wasn’t that bad at it, though he obviously didn’t have the practice Isaac did. Jacob’s hands wandered, lower and lower, resting on Isaac’s waist, where they patted around his belt.

Isaac pulled away for air and couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t have any money on me.”

“Ugh.” Jacob sighed and shoved Isaac away again. “What’s the point of you, then?”

“Hey, do you know how to get to the _Whitehorn_ inn?” 

“Yeah, you’ll need to go back down the road we ran up to about where I ran into you, turn left onto the first street, then turn left again about halfway down that street and it’s a few buildings in, there’s a sign. Is that where you’re staying?”

“Yes.” Isaac said, smirking. “In case you want to come find me. I don’t have any money there either, though. Other people in my group do, but some of them are mages so they’ll probably turn you inside out if they catch you.”

“Nobody ever catches me.” Jacob puffed out his chest as he spoke.

“Except for today?”

“That was different.” Jacob frowned. “So you work for mages? No, you’re one of their students.”

Isaac nodded. “They’re taking me to the capital for training.”

“I’m going back to the capital soon too.” Jacob said, looking around the little yard. “Maybe I’ll see you there. I should go.” 

“Okay, bye.”

“That was your cue to kiss me again, you know.” Jacob said, looking decidedly miffed that this hadn’t happened. 

“Oh, sorry.” Isaac leaned in, kissed Jacob quickly and was pulled into another full-body kiss before Jacob pushed him away once again. 

“Stop distracting me.” He said. “Also I can still do better than that. I’m having an off day.”

“You could come find me when you’re not.” Isaac said, pleased with how all of this was working out. “There are things we could do besides kissing, too, if you want.” 

“Well, we’ll see.” Jacob huffed again, puffing out clouds of steam in the cold air. “I mean, I’m a very busy person. Um. Okay, goodbye.” 

“Goodbye.” Jacob turned and left, going back through the stable, trying his very best to pretend that Isaac wasn’t walking right beside him. Only once they’d made it back onto the main street did Jacob turn and disappear suddenly into the crowd. Isaac chuckled to himself. Cities were pretty okay so far.

He was lectured for half an hour about not wandering off when he finally arrived at the inn, but Isaac just nodded along and made sure to leave the window in his and Oliver’s room unlocked that night, just in case.


	8. Determination and Self-Confidence are Valuable Life Skills

“We’ll arrive at the capital on the morrow.” Yancy declared as supper finished up. Isaac wasn’t really listening, though he did pause in his contemplation of how cold his feet were to wonder who actually said ‘on the morrow.’ He thought Yancy would have been happier if they had all lived in some terrible quest story. “Everyone should get as much rest as possible tonight. Tomorrow will be a momentous day indeed.” 

“Hear, hear.” Someone said. Isaac rolled his eyes and tried to slide away from the fire as unobtrusively as possible. 

“Now, when we arrive in the city tomorrow, there will doubtless be many questions, but we all must be sure to remember that—boy, where are you going?” 

Isaac looked up to find Yancy looking at him for the first time all night, preparing to make up an excuse. And finding that he didn’t have the patience for that tonight. “I don’t know anyone by that name.” He said, standing and leaving the group without another word. Let Yancy live in his little fantasy world where he’d found what he’d wanted in addition to what he’d been searching for, without the need to badly conceal his disappointment every time he accidentally looked in Isaac’s direction. 

It wasn’t terribly late but it was dark already and Isaac headed back for his tent, where there were blankets. Unfortunately he didn’t meet anyone interesting on the way, so he’d have to settle for Oliver keeping him warm again tonight. 

“Isaac.” Speaking of Oliver. His voice called out from behind Isaac, just as he reached the tent flap. Isaac looked back, waited for Oliver to catch up. “You can’t keep being mad at him, you know. He’s just doing his job.” 

“You’re his apprentice, right?” Isaac felt bad for Oliver sometimes. “How long did it take him to start calling you by name?” 

“Is that what this is about? He calls people ‘boy’ and ‘lad,’ it’s the way he talks. He called me that every once in a while for at least a year.”

“Every once in a while?” Isaac asked. “But he called you by name sometimes, right?”

“Well, yes, but Isaac, he calls you by name sometimes too.”

“Not when I can hear him, he doesn’t.” Isaac pushed back the tent flaps and ducked inside, waving his arms around to find the lantern. 

Oliver came in behind him and waved a hand, and the lantern flared brightly. In theory, someday Isaac would be able to do that. “Like I said, it’s just the way he talks. You can’t blame him for…”

“He’s disappointed in me, Oliver.” Isaac interrupted, debating with himself whether he should undress to sleep. Probably not, but he had trouble sleeping otherwise. “I haven’t done anything yet and he’s disappointed in me. I’m not the chosen one he wanted.” 

“Of course you are, he’s just very old-fashioned and he expects people to be a certain way. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like that you’re not.” Oliver sounded reasonable as always. Isaac wondered how he managed that. 

Still, he wasn’t about to be placated. “Yes, it does. He was expecting me to be a simple country boy with a pure heart and untapped wells of wisdom, and amazing talents for magic. And magic doesn’t make sense, I don’t know how anything works, and I’m a slut. All I had to do to let him down was exist.” That was just the way it was, and there was no point getting upset about it. Isaac shook his head, reminding himself of that when he felt tears forming in his eyes. 

“Hey.” Oliver grabbed Isaac and spun him around, putting a hand on each shoulder as he looked Isaac in the eyes. “Don’t you dare do that to yourself. There’s nothing wrong with the way you are.”

“Of course there is, Oliver. Even you think so.”

“I don’t.” Oliver insisted. He looked angry. “You live the way you want to, and anyone who doesn’t like it can get lost.” 

“Oliver…”

“The way that you are, Isaac, is not something I think that most people have seen before. It’s not something that a lot of people understand. Even I don’t really understand why you…you know.” Oliver paused, obviously fighting the urge to look away. “But that doesn’t mean that I have a problem with it and that doesn’t mean that there is a problem with it. Don’t act like you’re doing something wrong just because people don’t understand you. That just gives ammunition to anyone who doesn’t like you.”

Isaac blinked, and averted his eyes at the intensity on Oliver’s face. “Wow, Oliver. Tell me how you really feel.” 

Oliver chuckled as he let Isaac go. “I don’t like seeing you beat yourself up. And Isaac, do me a favour?”

“What?”

“Don’t go into the capital planning to hate everyone, okay? You’re upset but it’s not their fault and most of the kids there are in the same situation as you.” 

He was so sincere that Isaac had to smile. “Okay, I promise.”

“You’ll try to make friends?”

Now Isaac couldn’t help but smirk. “Oliver. It’s going to be a dormitory full of other boys. I think I’ll probably make a lot of friends.” 

Oliver shook his head, rolling his eyes. “I guess I should have seen that coming.” 

“Do you…you’re going to be there, aren’t you?” Isaac wasn’t sure why he’d made it a question—that gave Oliver the opportunity to say no. 

Oliver smiled sadly. “Apprentices are a level above students. We have our own apartments in a different building.” 

“Yeah.” Isaac turned away to Oliver wouldn’t see his face, pretended he was looking for the blanket. He’d suspected that. “So I guess this is the last night you have to put up with me, then.”

“I was thinking of it as the last night you have to put up with me.” 

“Don’t be stupid, Oliver.” Isaac sighed. “I like you. Don’t try to make like you don’t know that.”

“Maybe, but you’ll be relieved not to have me stopping you from…you know, every night.”

Isaac smirked. “You haven’t stopped me from doing anything. And you know, it’s…kind of nice to be able to just sort of be there with someone. Once in a while.” Isaac flushed, broke his gaze with Oliver again and tossed himself onto the bedroll. “Anyway, let’s go to sleep. We’re arriving in the capital on the morrow.” He said, in his best impersonation of Yancy’s rumble. 

It was clear that Oliver tried not to laugh, but it escaped him mouth anyway, and he collapsed beside Isaac giggling like a fool. “That’s eerily accurate.”

“Of course it is, my boy.” Isaac went on. “What else would you expect from I, Yancy?”

“He’s going to somehow find out about this.” Oliver laughed. “You’re going to get in trouble.”

“I know all, lad. And I love getting the boy in trouble as much as he likes making me go patchy-faced with righteous anger.” 

“Okay, okay! God.” Oliver curled into himself laughing, and Isaac giggled while he recovered. “I shouldn’t laugh at that. You are such a bad influence.”

“I try my best.” Isaac said as Oliver straightened out and reached over to grab blankets. 

Their eyes met for a second and Isaac recognized the shift in the air just before Oliver leaned in suddenly and kissed him, just lightly, on the mouth. “God.” He said, pulling back quickly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, Oliver.” A whole lot more than a chaste peck would have been okay, but this was Oliver he was talking to and Isaac was counting that was a major victory. 

“No, I should have asked, and…anyway. Sorry.” Oliver looked so embarrassed that Isaac just wanted to jump on him, but he also didn’t want to scare Oliver away. 

“You could ask now.” Isaac said quietly, putting a hand on Oliver’s chest gently. 

“I, um…” Oliver squirmed uncomfortably, red in the face. “Isaac, could I…would it be okay if I kissed you?”

Isaac smiled, leaned in and returned Oliver’s kiss from before, maybe a little less chastely. “Of course you can, Oliver.” 

The tearing of fabric and a heavy thunk were both very sudden, and Isaac didn’t register that something had brushed his head until half a second later. “What…”

“Isaac!” Oliver pulled him, rolling Isaac over to the other side of the tent and sitting. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, what the hell?” He tried to sit, saw fire on the blankets where he’d been laying, spreading from the arrow that had nearly hit him. “Shit.” Another arrow whizzed through the fabric of the tent as he spoke, landing near Oliver’s hand. The canvas was on fire now too. 

“Out, out of the tent!” Isaac scrambled to his feet and Oliver all but pushed him outside. Lyle was guarding their tent tonight and Isaac collided with him when he stepped outside. 

“You two okay?”

“Someone’s trying to kill us!” 

“I see that; stay with me.” Lyle started leading them away from the tent, and Isaac saw that theirs wasn’t the only tent that was on fire. The whole camp seemed to be under attack. “We’re not sure where they are yet, so be careful.”

It was dark, even with the fires that were burning Isaac couldn’t see much of anything. Those fires were sources of light, but in between them were pools of darkness that could have hidden anything, they seemed to grow and shrink with the movement of the flames, as if they were moving. 

An arm shot out from a pool of darkness and grabbed Lyle by the throat. “Hey!” Oliver stepped forward, making some fire in his hands and throwing it, but it was just swallowed up by the darkness and with a sickening crack, Lyle’s head snapped back and he was dropped to the ground. 

“Oh, God.” Isaac backed away slowly, shaking. The arm that had killed Lyle didn’t belong to a human. “There’s something there, Oliver. There’s something…”

“I know, Isaac. It’s going to be okay. Just stay back.” Isaac did as he was told, backing away with Oliver. He could feel more than see whatever it was stalking forward, long limbed and skeletal, taller than a human by far. Oliver was muttering something under his breath, hands moving as he cast some spell. 

_Try not to think of anything._ Isaac thought. This was some sort of magical…thing. He probably couldn’t help, but if he was going to do anything he was going to have to try to use magic. He’d done it once before without knowing what he was doing, but now he tried, tried to see the Pillars the way Diana told him too, but they wouldn’t appear like they were supposed to. It was hard not to think of anything when death was standing right in front of him.

Oliver stopped muttering and held his hands out in front of him, and a brilliant light shone from his fingertips and illuminated the darkness, but it didn’t wipe away the monster. Isaac had to close his eyes for a minute but it didn’t matter—the thing blurred, looking like nothing so much as a smear in the light, and grabbed Oliver by the neck as it had Lyle, lifting him from the ground. 

“No!” Oliver’s light had disappeared, leaving nothing but a scar on Isaac’s vision. He could hear people shouting from somewhere but Isaac didn’t listen. He reached out but there was nothing he could do. That thing was going to kill Oliver. Oliver was going to die because Isaac couldn’t do anything. “No!” 

Isaac refused to let that happen. He wasn’t going to let Oliver die right in front of him. He wasn’t…

The Pillars appeared in front of him, what looked like dozens of them. There were only three, he reminded himself. One of them had a sort of buzzing to it that he knew was from Oliver having just used it, so Isaac grabbed that one and pulled as hard as he could, a few others getting tangled in his hand as well as he reached for it. 

All sound fled the area, and a wave of—Isaac wouldn’t even have called it light—a wave of incandescence rolled out from Isaac’s hand, spreading all around them. The creature dropped Oliver and lurched back, hands over its head, and Isaac swore he could hear it screaming in his mind as it disintegrated. 

Isaac fell to the ground as the magic spread away from him, seeming to roll over the whole camp. Gradually he could hear sound coming back, and after a second he remembered Oliver. “Oliver!” Isaac crawled over to him, hands on his chest to feel for a heartbeat, and nearly collapsed when he felt Oliver’s chest rise. “Oh, God. Oliver.”

“I’m okay.” Oliver coughed. “The hell did you do?”

“I was trying to do what you did.” He felt like he’d run for miles and Isaac couldn’t stop shaking as he helped Oliver sit. 

“You did a little more than that, I think. Show me what you did.”

“I just…” They were fading, but Isaac could still see the Pillars, so he reached out gently and brushed the one he’d grabbed. “Kind of pulled on this. And I guess a few other ones that were in the way.” 

“Heh.” Oliver coughed, reaching out and taking Isaac’s hand with the Pillar in the middle. “This is Light.” 

“No kidding.” It was buzzing in Isaac’s hand, sending tingles through his body. He smiled a little at the sensation. “At least now I know what I’m looking for.” 

“Isaac! Oliver!” Diana’s voice cut through the moment and Isaac looked up, the pillars vanishing from his sensation as he did. She was hurrying towards them with Yancy, a globe of light following them. “Are you both alright?”

“Oliver needs to see a medic…”

“I’m fine.” Oliver interrupted. “There was a…something in the darkness.” 

Diana nodded, dropping to her knees beside them and putting a hand on Oliver’s forehead, then Isaac’s. Her other hand hung limply at her side. “Wraiths. The arrows and fire were just distractions—they were here to kill us.”

“There were more of them?” Isaac asked, looking around in case they might be lurking somewhere. 

“Several.” Yancy rumbled. He was bleeding from his forehead. “This could not have been a natural attack—they were sent after us. But some magic killed them all.” He was looking directly at Isaac.

All of them? Whatever Isaac had done had killed all of them? “It was Oliver.” He said automatically. “He did some sort of…”

“Nobody believes you, Isaac.” Oliver said, shaking his head. “I was watching him and I don’t even know what he did.” 

“Well, you’re not the chosen one for nothing.” Diana said, sending a significant look up at Yancy. 

“Indeed so.” Yancy intoned uncomfortably. “Very good, young man. I doubt that even I could have cast such a spell.”

“I…” Isaac sighed, not sure what he’d been going to say. At least he’d graduated from ‘boy’ to ‘young man.’ “I wouldn’t be able to do it again. I just didn’t want it to hurt Oliver. It killed Lyle.”

“A handful of the guards were killed in the immediate attack.” Diana said softly, and Isaac wondered if that was supposed to make him feel better. “Isaac…this is why we had guards. We were worried something like this might happen.” 

“I know…” Isaac could feel his adrenaline crashing now that the danger was over and he started to rock back and forth a little. “I know. I don’t…I don’t understand. I mean, I understand, but I don’t get it. I haven’t _done_ anything yet.” 

“All you had to do for some people was exist, Isaac.”

Isaac took a second to hear that and when he did, he snorted, unable to contain himself, and started laughing. “I know.” 

“Isaac…” Oliver put a hand on his shoulder, but Isaac kept laughing, trying and failing to stifle it. He trembled with the effort and still the laughter came out. “He’s in shock.”

“I’m okay.” Isaac said, still giggly. He staggered to his feet, ignoring their hands trying to steady him. “I don’t care what other people want. I’m not going to stop existing. I’m here and everyone’s just going to have to deal with that.” 

“I’m glad to hear you say that.” 

Yancy cleared his throat. “In any case.” He said, sounding confused. “We mustn’t stay here any longer; it isn’t safe. We shall have to make haste for the capital. I know we’re all tired. But we must…”

“I know.” Isaac interrupted, controlling himself and standing straight, looking Yancy in the eye. “Let’s go.”


	9. Prophecies are Confusing Things and Often Have More than One Interpretation

In his mind, Isaac had created an image of what he thought the capital would look like. Grand, tall buildings and stately-looking people in the streets on important business, knights on duty and nobility in carriages. 

In reality, there was snow everywhere and people were hurrying along so they could get out of the cold quickly, the buildings looked like buildings everywhere else. The road was too icy for carriages and he did think he saw a knight at one point, but he had disappeared around a corner before Isaac could be sure.

He didn’t care much anyway. They’d ridden through the night and Isaac was exhausted. He was ready to fall off his horse and go to sleep in a pile of dirty snow on the side of the road. Oliver was riding beside him, keeping him awake by assuring him that they were almost there and then he could sleep in a bed. 

“Don’t care.” Isaac muttered after the third or fourth such reassurance. “I don’t need a bed. I can sleep riding.”

“No, you can’t.” Oliver said gently. “You’re a terrible rider.”

“Well, whose fault is that?” Isaac yawned. “That would have made more sense if it was actually your fault.” He said, a second later. 

“Yeah.”

“Why aren’t you tired?”

“I am, I’m just not being a baby about it.” 

“Well.” Isaac thought about that. “Shut up.” He finally retorted. 

“Look, once we go around this corner you can see the academy.” Isaac looked where Oliver was pointing as they turned the corner and up ahead, he could see a tall, conical building that had three towers growing out of it sides. “That’s it there.”

“Needs more towers.” Isaac decided.

“There’s one for each of the three Pillars.” Oliver took on a lecturing tone, but Isaac just waved him into silence.

“Obviously. Just saying. The building beside it has more towers.” The building beside it probably wasn’t beside it, but there was another structure that was now in view, and it was all towers and tall walls, and flags.

“That’s the palace.”

“Oh.” Isaac took a good look at it and decided that it looked like a palace ought to look. “So the king is you neighbour? You should have said.” 

“It didn’t seem like something you’d care about.”

“Are you kidding?” Isaac managed a smile. “He’s got a son, right? I’ve never had sex with a prince. The easiest kid to sneak around with is always the one right next door.”

Oliver laughed quietly. “I always manage to forget how single-minded you are. There are a couple of thirty-foot walls and probably a hundred guards in between the academy and the palace.”

“A little thing called persistence, Oliver.” Isaac yawned again and peered at the academy’s tower, trying to figure out how much longer it would be. “I thought the academy would be bigger.”

“That’s just the main building. Once we get behind the walls you’ll see that there are a bunch of others.” Isaac just nodded, finding it a little easier to keep his eyes open now. Oliver didn’t say anymore and Isaac was okay with that. They rode in silence for the last leg of the journey, the tower growing bigger as they approached it, and Isaac reflected that he’d thought he would be more emotional about this when it finally happened. He’d expected to be angry, or upset or nervous or maybe even excited, but he was just tired and impatient. Yancy seemed to be leading them on the longest possible route to the academy and he just wanted to not be riding anymore. 

But then, someone had tried to kill them twelve hours ago, so Isaac was willing to give Yancy the benefit of the doubt for now. 

Finally, they came up to a wrought-iron gate set into a yellow wall that had a rainbow sheen to it somehow. Yancy called for the party to stop. “Open the gates!” He intoned, though Isaac didn’t see anyone beyond the gates or on top of the wall. 

After a moment, though, someone did appear at the top of the wall. “Who goes there?”

“It is I, Yancy.” Yancy announced, throwing out his arm in a way that made his cloak billow dramatically in the nonexistent wind. Isaac thought he should really give up this magic business and become an actor like he clearly wanted to be. 

Whoever was on top of the wall disappeared, and after a moment of silence where Isaac wondered if maybe the gate people thought Yancy was as annoying as he did, the gates did open inwards. Yancy nodded once and led them all through. A strange tingling sensation swept over Isaac when he passed under the wall. “What was that?”

“There’s a barrier around the academy.” Oliver told him. “To protect against magical attacks.”

“Like wraiths?”

“Yes. You’ll be safe here, Isaac.” Isaac nodded, somehow not sure about that, and looked around. There did seem to be other buildings outside of the tower, all less grandiose and most not rising above the walls. The academy had larger grounds than he’d expected, and even in this weather he could see a few people out in the snow here and there, possibly practicing magic, although some of them seemed to just be lobbing snowballs at one another. 

Yancy led them up a path that had been cleared of snow, obviously headed towards the main tower. There, he dismounted and everyone followed him, and servants appeared from somewhere to take their horses. Isaac nearly fell as he got down, and was saved the embarrassment thanks to Oliver’s hands on his shoulders. 

Now that they were right under it, Isaac was rethinking his comments about the tower not being big enough, but before he had time to process that at all someone rushed out of the large double doors and approached them. “Yancy.” She was an older woman with a lot of braids in her hair. “I admit I wasn’t expecting you back so quickly.”

“Fate led my journey to be shorter than expected, Elena.” Yancy told her, and Elena just nodded. 

“Well, sad to say you might have been served by waiting a few more hours. Elijah’s just returned as well, not half an hour past.” Every one of Elena’s words had punch to it, as if she were swordfighting with her sentences. 

“Well.” Yancy declared. “I daresay I can trump whatever stir he’s caused. Let us go inside, quickly, Elena.”

“Elijah is Yancy’s arch-rival.” Oliver whispered to Isaac as they started to go indoors.

“Let me guess.” Isaac muttered. “They were friends when they were students, but something came between them and they haven’t been able to see eye-to-eye since.”

Oliver blinked. “How did you know? Did someone tell you that?”

“No. It just seemed like the sort of thing that would happen to Yancy.” Possibly the best part of all of this, Isaac thought, was that Yancy was going to be a much smaller part of his life now. Diana had told him a few weeks ago that Yancy didn’t usually teach new students, which meant Isaac should be spared his everything for a while, at least. 

The inside of the tower was a wide-open room with three ornate staircases swooping up to other floors. The floor was done in tile of white, black and grey and Isaac thought that if shades of three was the decorating scheme for the entire academy, he was going to become irritated with it very quickly. 

There was a small crowd assembled inside already, mostly older people in long coats of white, black or grey. It wasn’t hard to figure out what that represented. There were three people who caught Isaac’s eye mostly for being much older than anyone else, but for the fact that their coats had fancy golden trim on them and they were wearing lots of jewelry. A very old man leaning on a staff who looked exactly like mages were supposed to look was in front of them, wearing the most adornment of anyone over a black coat. “That’s the archmage and the high council.” Oliver whispered, looking around with Isaac. “And most of these people are ranking mages in the academy. Did someone tell them you were coming?”

“God, I hope not.” Isaac yawned. He wasn’t in the mood to be fawned over and pontificated at. “If they start talking about prophecies, you have to hit me over the head.”

“And be arrested?”

“Yancy!” A voice called out, coming from a man who Isaac thought looked a lot like Yancy only slightly more attractive and a little slimmer in the face. “Such excellent timing you have.”

“I could say the same for you, Elijah.” Yancy said back, his voice ringing through the hall. Elijah had two people about Oliver’s age standing behind him, and his hand was on the shoulder of a boy a little older than Isaac. The boy was red in the cheeks from cold and looked very small in the large crowd that he and Elijah were in the centre of, though he was a little taller and a little broader in the shoulder than Isaac himself. 

“Indeed.” Elijah said, and Isaac’s eyes met with the other boy’s and he was struck with a strange feeling of...something. Yancy would have called it ‘foreboding’ or something equally nonsensical. Elijah continued. “Today is an historic day for our academy, and I’m glad that you are here to see it, Yancy. For in my travels I have found the one we have all be waiting to meet. Allow me to introduce you to Nicholas. The chosen one.”


	10. Getting to Know Roommates is Always an Interesting Experience

“Fifty, fifty-two, fifty-four, here we go.” Spencer was a tall boy and his eyeglasses made him look smart, which Isaac thought was why they had all so readily agreed to let him take the lead. But he had managed to lead them to the room the four of them had been assigned without any trouble, so obviously it had been a good choice. 

Spencer pushed the door open and led them into the small room. Two bunk beds with metal frames were attached to the wall on the left and four chests lined the right wall for them to put their things, with a long shelf above them. There were maybe two paces between the beds and the chests. One small window on the back wall lit the room. “They’re not really that worried about our comfort, are they?” Peter was Isaac’s age but he walked with a cane, and Isaac let him go in ahead so that he wouldn’t trip over everyone else. His dark hair fell into his eyes to cover up a birthmark on his forehead that he didn’t like.

“We’re not meant to do much but sleep here.” Skip looked around the room like he owned it, then sat on one of the chests as he surveyed the four beds. He’d told them to call him Skip, which just made Isaac wonder what his real name was. 

“He’s right.” Spencer said. “There’s a common room at the end of the hall and study rooms somewhere, we eat in the mess hall, so there’s not much reason to be here during the day. Besides, it’s better than the Hall.” 

The Hall had been one large dormitory room where all twenty-three of the boys aiming for placement in the academy had been sleeping while they’d all been assessed for magical potential. Seven hadn’t demonstrated any and the remaining sixteen of them had been assigned rooms here. Twenty-two girls had been accepted as well, but they were in a different building somewhere. 

Isaac wasn’t entirely sure he agreed with Spencer’s assessment—in the week and a half they’d been in the Hall he’d managed to get himself into the cots of several of the other boys and none of them were the three who were in this room with him now. On the other hand, all of the students, including all of those who had already been here before them, were in this building and so all Isaac had to do was sneak out of this one room at night. There wasn’t much activity in the building at the moment, except for their four groups of new students, because it was the middle of the day, but Isaac figured that might change when classes were finished for the evening.

“I guess so.” Peter dropped his bag on top of a chest and frowned at the ladders to the upper bunks. 

“Bet you can’t climb up there.” Skip said to him.

“Bet you’re right about that.” Peter sat on the bottom bed farthest from the door, leaning his cane against the wall and rubbing his bad leg. “Really, though? Three flights of stairs to get here?”

“They might move you if you asked.” Isaac had been worried that Peter would hurt himself or fall on all the steps, but aside from taking them a little slower than most he hadn’t seemed to have any trouble. 

“No, it’s fine. I’ll get used to it. But I’m not climbing a ladder, so you three can work out the sleeping arrangements with that in mind.”

“I want to be up top.” Skip announced. “So I can look down at all of you tiny people and laugh.”

“I’d prefer the top as well.” Spencer said, when Isaac looked at him. “If the bed collapses I’d like to be on top of the rubble, not underneath it.” Isaac snorted. “If you want the top as well, Isaac, we’ll have to…”

“I prefer being on bottom.” Isaac interrupted, and he sat on the cot closest the door. 

“So I’ve heard.” Peter muttered, and Isaac just smirked at him. 

“Okay.” Spencer said, looking at the three of them. “Before we do anything else, can we set rules?”

“Rules?” That sounded a little boring to Isaac. 

“Rules are important.” Skip agreed. “If you’re going to live with people and not kill them, at least.” 

“You’re right.” Peter pointed at Isaac. “Can we start with a rule that Isaac can’t bring strange people into our room at night? Or really anyone, at any time of day?”

“Only if we can follow it with a rule that we don’t tell anyone when Isaac leaves the room at night.” Isaac grumbled, trying not to glare too hard at Peter. It wasn’t like he’d _known_ that Peter had been awake in the cot next to Callum’s that one night. 

They hadn’t been _that_ loud. 

“Let’s try not to wake each other up if we can avoid it either.” Spencer said, looking between Isaac and Peter. “Just because you happen to be up late at night…”

“Or early in the morning.” Isaac put in, and Peter nodded.

“Or early in the morning, doesn’t mean other people want to be.” Spencer fiddled with his eyeglasses for a second in a way that Isaac found endearing. 

“This is a small room.” Skip said, shifting back and forth on the chest. “We have to live here. I don’t want people throwing pillows at me every time I change my clothes.”

“I think the pillows were more because you were dancing.” Peter told him.

“Dancing is good exercise.” 

“I think we can all just used to a certain lack of privacy while we’re here.” Spencer said, and he was the only one who Isaac thought looked not entirely comfortable with that idea. “Within reason.”

“I feel like ‘I don’t feel like wearing clothes today’ is a good enough reason.” Skip answered, and Isaac nodded along, liking this idea a lot. “But I’m also thinking about needs a little bit more basic, if you know what I mean.”

“Go somewhere else if you want to play with yourself, Skip.” 

“You say that now.” Skip pointed at Peter. “You say that now. But it’s the middle of the night. You can’t sleep because you’re too hard. Are you going to get up and go somewhere else?”

“Bearing in mind that I can help with that problem.” Isaac put in, enjoying how red Peter got. 

“Okay!” Peter took a breath. “Just be quiet about it.”

“Promise. Isaac? You’re okay to give me a hand if I need it, right?”

Isaac smiled. “We’re all friends here, aren’t we? Friends are supposed to help each other.” This was looking up, he thought.

“Exactly.” Skip nodded. “Aside from that, I think we should help each other study, share food and not keep secrets. You know, friend stuff.”

“We’re not friends yet, though.” Peter shrugged when all three of them turned to look at him. “We barely know each other.”

“I expect that will change quickly, Peter.” Spencer said, sitting down beside Skip on a chest. “It seems to me you’d have to try not to become friends with the people you live with.” 

Peter shrugged again. “I expect so too. Just saying we’ve hardly talked before today.”

“So we can talk.” Spencer gestured for Peter to do so. “Tell us something interesting about yourself.”

“My parents hate magic, so they disowned me when they found out I was a mage.” Peter said, matter-of-factly. “Your turn.”

“That’s terrible, Peter. I’m so sorry.”

Peter just shrugged. “Your turn, Spencer.”

“I, um.” Spencer thought for a second. “I haven’t eaten meat since I was little and I watched someone slaughter a pig.”

“Hey, that’s completely fair.” Skip said, giving Spencer a friendly shove to the shoulder. “Is it okay for me to eat meat?”

“Oh, yes. What other people do doesn’t bother me at all. I just…can’t, myself. Your turn.”

“I don’t like music.” Skip fiddled with a few of the metal bands on his wrists. He had a lot of metal on his clothes, bands and buckles, and two earrings in each ear. Isaac kept catching himself looking at them, wondering if they had hurt. “Any music, at all. I don’t get it. It just all sounds like noise to me. Isaac?”

“I can train a dog in a week.” Isaac just said the first thing that came to mind. “My mother does it at home for all the hunting dogs in the area. She taught me how.”

“I feel like you have more interesting things to say, Mr. Chosen One.” Skip teased.

“You…” Isaac looked away. “Aren’t supposed to know about that.”

“We all do, though.” Spencer said. “You must know that.”

“Of course I know.” He’d practically laughed in Oliver’s face when he’d been told to keep it a secret, as if everyone hadn’t already known at that point. “I have nothing interesting to say about that.”

“Not even about what’s going on with you and Nicholas?” Peter asked. “They’re trying to decide which of you is the real thing and you have nothing?”

“I really don’t.”

“What do you think of him? Personally I like you better.”

Isaac glanced at Peter. He hadn’t been sure if Peter liked him at all. “Of Nicholas? I don’t know, I haven’t talked to him. He seems nice.” From what Isaac had seen of him in the last week and a half, and what he’d heard other people say. It wasn’t like he thought Nicholas was a bad person. 

“You haven’t talked to him?” Skip sat straighter. “You haven’t talked to him since you got here?”

“I haven’t talked to him at all, ever.” Isaac shrugged. “There were fifty other people there when we met and they all wanted to talk.” Isaac had left shortly after being introduced. He’d been too tired to deal with all those people. 

“You were five beds apart in the Hall.” Spencer sounded confused. 

“You couldn’t have made his one of the cots you snuck into?” So did Peter.

“Well, I only sneak if I’m invited.” Isaac said, a little defensively. “And I’m worried if I talk to him someone will try to write a ballad about it or something.” He wasn’t sure yet what he was supposed to think of Nicholas. Part of him wanted Elijah to be right, and part of him wished Nicholas didn’t exist. It was very confusing. “Have any of you talked to him?”

They all nodded. “He’s nice.” Skip said with a shrug. “He’s really serious. It’s all about our training and when we’re going to start learning and what we’ll be taught and that. How important it is that we learn to use our magic to help people.”

Spencer nodded. “It sounds like things he’s been told, rather than necessarily things he’s decided himself. Not that I think he’s insincere or anything.”

“I was told all that kind of stuff too.” Isaac wondered how it was that the question was going to be resolved. Was there a chosen one test? Maybe they would have to duel. “It seems like they were probably wrong about me anyway. He’s probably the real chosen one. I mean, I don’t think Yancy could read a road sign without seeing omens in it, so it’s really likely that he made a mistake with me.”

“You have the Mark too, though.” Skip gestured to Isaac’s arm.

“And I heard you killed a whole bunch of wraiths that attacked you.” Peter made an ‘explosion’ gesture with his hand. Isaac scowled. Obviously nobody at this academy could keep a secret, which was something he would need to keep in mind.

“I just happened to grab a Pillar when I was scared.” Isaac wished they wouldn’t all look at him as if he were about to do something interesting. “Anyone could have done that.”

“I can’t even see the Pillars.” Skip said in response to that. “I’ve heard of them.”

“I can’t see them either.” Peter echoed.

“I think I saw one once.” Spencer said quietly. “But I don’t know. And besides, Isaac. Anyone can swing a hammer; they’re not going to build a house.”

“I have no idea what that has to do with this.”

“Veteran mages were hurt fighting those things.” Skip clarified. “They weren’t killed by a bright light—you must have done something.”

“I just…grabbed Light.” Isaac concentrated for a second and the pillars appeared—maybe an aftereffect of that night or just the practice they’d been making him do, but he was able to see them most of the time when he tried now. He still couldn’t tell the other ones apart, but he was able to recognize Light now—or at least the part of it that he’d used; once it trailed off a short distance it got tangled with the others and became indistinguishable again, which was how Isaac had learned that the Pillars had similar shapes no matter where he was—and he touched it gently, gave it a little push, and the room brightened a little. It was still hard not to be amazed that he had done that, even though he knew it was a minor thing. “It was an accident, and any mage can grab one Pillar.”

“Can Nicholas? Before anyone’s even trained him?” 

“Maybe, I don’t know. Probably.” How the hell was Isaac supposed to know?

“You might know if you’d talked to him.” Skip suggested, not subtly. 

“Yeah, maybe.” Isaac kept his attention on Light beside his hand. “I wonder if…”

“If what?” Peter prodded.

“Nothing” He wondered if Nicholas was as frightened as he was. He stopped focusing, let the Pillars disappear. “I just feel a little bad for him, I guess. I mean, this is hard for everyone, but…” It sounded selfish to say he thought it was harder for him. At least his parents hadn’t disowned him. 

“You should talk to him.” Spencer said firmly. “You’re both isolated, in a way. Even if they’re pretending you’re both ordinary students, we all know you aren’t. Even if only one of you can be the chosen one, you probably have a lot in common, at least at the moment.”

“You have the same pressures on your shoulders.” Peter agreed. 

“Besides.” Skip pointed at Isaac. “You’re going to have classes with him. There aren’t that many of us; it will be really obvious if you just don’t talk to him. People will think you hate him or something.”

“Okay, okay.” Isaac put up his hands as if they would defend him from the onslaught. “I’ll talk to him next time I see him.” They were right, he knew. In a way, he and Nicholas were in this together. He could at least try to be friendly. Even if part of him wasn’t sure he wanted to. “Way too much time talking about me. Peter, it’s your turn again.”

“I have recurring dreams about being adopted by trolls.” Isaac immediately felt more comfortable once he wasn’t the focus of everyone’s attention anymore and he was able to relax a little and enjoy his new friends. 

If this was what it was going to be like here, maybe it wasn’t as bad as he’d worried it would be.


	11. Serious People Find Few Things as Annoying as Carefree People

Before they could learn any real magic, all the new students at the academy had to take a class to teach them how to see the Pillars—which was probably really helpful for all of the students who couldn’t already do that. For Isaac it was a boring two hours, two times a day of sitting on the floor to practice the one thing he could already do. But skipping it was not allowed, according to Lee, the instructor. She was a calm and collected woman who seemed to look right through Isaac whenever he tried to talk to her and he had found himself quite incapable of disagreeing with her when she’d told him that the meditation would be useful for him anyway. 

Isaac used the time to practice bringing the Pillars to sight at will, and tried to sort out the mess that they appeared to him as by picking individual strands and following them with his eyes to see where they went and how they related to each other.

He was only supposed to be seeing three, but Isaac kept counting at least ten and usually more. It was hard, especially when he couldn’t touch them without getting meaningful looks from Lee that made him stop. The last thing Isaac wanted to do was spend more time fiddling with the Pillars when he wasn’t in class, but he’d found himself thinking lately that he might benefit from practice outside of the classroom where nobody could tell him not to touch. 

It had only been just over a week and Isaac was already frustrated with this.

The upside to the class was that everyone had to take it, which meant that Isaac knew where everyone else was at certain times of day. Including Nicholas. Isaac had been watching him today in class and he’d seemed to be meditating just as hard as the rest of the students, Isaac wondered if he really couldn’t see the Pillars or if he was just pretending. Seemed like if they thought he was a chosen one too, he must have something that set him apart from everyone else.

Today Isaac planned to find out. When afternoon class mercifully let out, Isaac hung back and waited for Nicholas to leave the room. He usually walked to dinner with the twins Aaron and Andrew, who were his roommates, but Isaac had gotten to know both of them and was pretty confident he could steal Nicholas from them without too much trouble. 

He caught up to them in the hallway before they had turned the first corner. The twins were identical in every way (Isaac had checked) but even from behind Isaac recognized Andrew’s voice as the one speaking. “Excuse me.” He interrupted, ducking under Andrew’s arm and putting his own arm around Nicholas’ waist. 

“Hi, Isaac.” Aaron said, looking amused. “Need something?”

“Need to borrow my co-chosen one for a bit. I’ll bring him back, don’t worry.” 

“Don’t scare him too badly.” Andrew called, and Isaac waved at him as he ushered Nicholas around a corner and into the classroom on the left, which he knew would be empty for the rest of the evening. The building they were in was named after some long-dead mage but most people seemed to call it the Beehive for its confusing hallways. It was specifically used for teaching newer students so they wouldn’t get in the way of anyone important. It was safe to assume the classrooms didn’t see that much use at night. 

“Hi.” Isaac said, letting Nicholas go and stepping back. Nicholas stepped away from Isaac as well, looking at him like he was crazy. 

“Good evening. You probably shouldn’t talk about that in front of people.” Nicholas said. He had a pretty deep voice for a kid. 

“What, the chosen one stuff?” Nicholas nodded, and Isaac shrugged. “Everyone knows anyway. If it was ever a secret, it wasn’t a very good one.”

“Still, they asked us not to talk about it.” 

“I guess so.” Isaac looked away for a second, sat on one of the desks. “I thought we could…you know, talk.”

“If you wanted to talk you could have just said so.” He said flatly. 

“Yeah but I didn’t want people trying to interpret it as being part of some important prophecy.” Isaac sighed, tried to pretend that he wasn’t nervous—it wasn’t like he was uncomfortable talking to people. “I just think we probably have a lot in common, so we could…”

“I don’t want to sleep with you.” Nicholas interrupted. “I like girls.”

Isaac blinked at him for a second. “What? No. That isn’t what this is about. I wasn’t going to…No. I just thought we should be friends.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Isaac repeated, shaking his head. “We’re in the same boat here. Until they figure out which one of us they’re going to pick, we’re both trapped with this weight on our shoulders.”

“They’re not going to pick one of us, Isaac. One of us is the chosen one and one if us is an imposter. They’ll find out the truth.”

“Okay, fine, but…”

“You do understand that we’re competing, right?” Nicholas asked. Isaac was starting to think this hadn’t been a good idea after all. 

“No, we aren’t. You just said they aren’t going to pick one of us—it’s not a contest, Nicholas.”

“No, it isn’t.” Nicholas said, taking a step forward in a way that reminded Isaac of the slight size advantage he had. “Because it’s obvious how it’s going to turn out. You talk about it like it’s a burden. But it’s an honour. It’s a responsibility. Even not being the chosen one—having the power we have is a responsibility to everyone.”

“I know that.”

“You don’t act like it. I don’t like you very much, Isaac. You’d rather fool around with other students than focus on what matters. You act like being here is a punishment. You’re lazy and selfish and everything I don’t like in a person. Maybe you’re happy being like that. But I’m going to be someone, Isaac.”

“Sorry.” Isaac said, his anger talking rather than his mind. “I didn’t realize you were so special.” 

“I am. And you’re not, and we’re not going to be friends.” Nicholas turned away. “I’m going to go to supper.” 

Isaac let him leave, not that he could have stopped Nicholas. He just sat there on the desk for quite a while, thinking about what had happened and trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. He ended up not ever going to supper. 

At least now he could say they’d talked.


	12. Being in a New Environment is Hard Enough without Being Obviously Different from Everyone Else

“I’m positive I saw one today, Isaac. I’m sure of it.” 

“I believe you.” Even if nobody else believed Peter, Isaac did. All anyone wanted to say to him was that students never saw the Pillars after only a few weeks, and that he’d just imagined it and needed more time. But Isaac could see that Peter believed what he was saying and that was good enough for him. “You’ve got to give them more time is all.”

“I have to give _them_ more time?” Peter asked irritably. They were alone in the hallway. Isaac had stayed behind to wait for Peter while he’d talked to Lee to tell her what had happened. 

“They have a certain way they want things to happen.” Isaac said, because he’d realized this early on. “Things are supposed to take certain amounts of time. You do something slower than they expect and there’s something wrong. But if you do something faster than they expect, that’s also a problem. It will take you a while to convince them you’re telling the truth, that’s all.” 

“Look at you being the little font of wisdom.” Peter muttered, but he looked over at Isaac and smiled a little bit. “Of course, they’ve got you sitting in a meditation class you don’t need for four hours a day, so I guess there’s some merit to what you’re saying.” 

“One of us should just become a teacher.” Isaac said, hoping that lunch was something hot when they got there. “Maybe we can fix the way they do things around here.” 

Peter snorted. “Yeah, you and me. Revolutionaries.” 

“If you want we can overthrow the king, too.” They were coming up on another hallway and Isaac could hear voices coming from the right-hand hall, and dragged Peter gently to the left. “Let’s go this way.”

“What? Isaac, it’s twice as long to go this way!”

“Trust me, it’s not.” But it was too late.

“Isaac.” Isaac made a series of faces since he had his back turned, but schooled his expression into something more neutral before turning around. Diana was the one who’d spoken to him, and she was with Elena, Yancy and Elijah. 

If they really thought Isaac would believe that the four of them had just decided to go for a walk through the Beehive at the exact time when he was out of class, then he would actually be insulted at their opinion of his intelligence. “Good morning.” Isaac said as politely as he could, remembering belatedly that it wasn’t morning any longer. 

“How are your classes going, Isaac?” Diana asked. It seemed pretty clear to him that she’d been nominated as the speaker for their little group. 

Isaac shrugged. “You know they don’t let you out of this meditation class even if you can already see the Pillars? The only thing I’m learning is how to sleep sitting up. Peter saw one today too and nobody believed him.” 

Diana smiled, taking a second to process what must have been a much longer answer than she’d expected. “It’s Lee teaching this class, right? I might be able to speak with her about letting you out of at least one of the sessions, get you into something a little more interesting.”

“No, thanks.” Isaac said immediately, and even Peter looked at him funny. “My friends are all in this class. If you take me out of it all you’ll do is make sure I have less friends. I appreciate the offer, though.” He smiled.

Diana returned the smile in that way she had that suggested she understood what he was thinking. Isaac had never figured out if she actually did or if it just benefited her to have people think that. “Alright then.” Behind her, Elena was sharing looks with Yancy. Diana continued. “We’d like to talk to you for a couple of minutes. You’re free, right?”

“We’re on our way to lunch.” Isaac said. “You should talk to Nicholas instead. I’m sure he’d be happy to hear what you have to say.” 

The looks on both Diana’s and Peter’s faces told him that maybe he hadn’t managed to keep all of the spite out of his voice after all. Everyone had found out pretty quickly that he’d spoken to Nicholas, though he hadn’t actually told anyone what they’d said to each other. The fact that they hadn’t spoken since might have been a tip-off for a lot of people, though. “I suppose it’s a vain hope that you might not have told your friend here about what’s going on?” Diana asked.

Isaac snorted. “I didn’t have to. It was a vain hope that everybody wasn’t going to find out on their own.” 

“We tried, at least.” Diana said with a sigh. “Anyway. I’m sure you know we have to find some way to tell which of you is the one we’ve really been looking for.” 

“It’s him.” Isaac said immediately, to all of their visible surprise. “He wants to do it and I don’t. It’s him.” 

“That’s not what you said the night the wraiths attacked.” Diana reminded him. 

“That was before I knew about Nicholas.” Isaac said, remembering his bold declaration that night and feeling foolish. “I didn’t think I had a choice. Now I do.” 

“You don’t, lad.” Yancy cut in. “Prophecy is prophecy and which of you is the true subject of it is not for any of us to decide—we can only determine the truth.” 

Isaac looked up at Yancy, expression flat. “Which of us do you think it is?”

“I hardly have enough information to form an opinion on the matter, boy.”

Isaac just stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “Okay. Let me ask that differently, then. Which of us would you prefer?”

Yancy’s expression told Isaac everything he needed to know, but Elena broke in before he could say anything. “This is more important than us, Isaac.” She said archly. “Your objections are irrelevant. As are any preferences any of us might have.” 

“That’s not true, though.” Peter said, and Isaac turned to him, a little surprised. He didn’t seem too worried to suddenly be the centre of attention. “It’s not. Prophecies are interpreted by people and people can make mistakes—there have been lots of instances where they were interpreted the wrong way because the opinion of the person doing it swayed their interpretation. Um…for example, Lloyd the Lightbringer was prophesied to return fire to the world after a year of it being gone by killing someone who was identified in prophecy as the Wall. Archmage Eliezer identified a Lord Callaghan as the Wall, but it didn’t work and it turned out later it was someone else, and Eliezer had been wrong because Callaghan had killed his daughter, so he’d gone looking for a reason to say it was him.” 

Isaac wasn’t sure how Peter had known any of that, but the way the others were all looking at him suggested he was right. “You’re a well-read young man, aren’t you?” Elijah asked. 

“My parents are both priests.” Peter was leaning forward on his cane in a way that Isaac had never seen him do before. 

“In any case.” Elena always sounded a little bit impatient to Isaac. “The High Council and several others will meet impartially to decide which of the two of you best fits the prophecy. There can only be one of you, so in theory only one of you will be a perfect fit.”

“We’d like it, Isaac, if you could give us an hour of your time every day, maybe between lunch and your afternoon session with Lee, so we can talk to you and ask you questions about your life, try and see how much of it matches up to what we’ve got for prophecy.” Diana said, and she was asking but Isaac could tell she wasn’t really asking. 

“Fine.” Isaac sighed. “Can we start tomorrow or do you want me today?”

“Today, please.”

“Fine.” He looked away from all of them. 

“Thank you for your cooperation, lad.”

“It might be possible to settle this here and now.” Elijah declared. “Nicholas was born during an eclipse—a meeting of light and dark. I don’t suppose you can say the same?”

“I don’t know, I was busy that day. My dad told me I was conceived during one, though.” He shrugged at the looks they gave him. “He was pretty drunk, so I don’t know.” 

Diana held back a little smile and turned to Elijah. “As I told you earlier. Interpreting prophecies is tricky business. Does ‘coming into the world’ mean birth or conception? It’s not going to be as easy as just checking things off a list, Elijah.” 

“Obviously it means birth…”

“If you want to take the prophecy literally, perhaps.” Diana interrupted. “But we’ve all read it and it’s half nonsense. There’s no way you can claim that it’s a straightforward piece of text with a clear meaning.” 

“Can I read it?” Isaac asked suddenly, drawing all of their attention again. “The prophecy, I mean. Can I read it?”

“Only high-ranking mages are permitted to read prophetic texts.” Elijah said stiffly. 

“But it’s about me. Maybe, at least. You should let me and Nicholas read it.”

“He has a point.” Yancy declared. “It might be opportune to let the two lads have a look at the prophecy.”

“So they can know what they need to say to convince us?” Elena demanded. “I don’t think so.”

“That stupid thing ruined my life.” Isaac told her, more harshly than he’d meant to. “I have a right to know what it says.”

“We’ll talk about it, Isaac.” Diana told him. “That’s all I can promise you for now, okay?”

“Okay.” Diana was pretty good at not promising more than was reasonable. “Fine. Can I go to lunch now?”

Diana nodded. “Come see us after in the main tower. Someone will be down in the entryway to meet you.” Isaac nodded back and the four of them turned and walked away, leaving him alone with Peter. 

“I guess I’ll forgive you for wanting to go the long way.” Peter said. “You were right.” 

“Thanks for helping me.” Isaac mumbled, gesturing for Peter to walk and heading in the direction of the cafeteria. “With the prophecy stuff. It’s cool you knew that.” 

“My family values reading. Especially about all the times magic has been bad for people.” Peter shrugged. “And you’re the only one who believed me today.” 

“Thanks anyway.” 

“Do you…do you really mean it when you say it ruined your life, Isaac? You don’t want to be the chosen one that badly?” 

Isaac shrugged. “Not really. I don’t even want to be a mage. But I am, so…” He sighed. “Hey Peter, do you think I’m selfish?” 

Peter blinked at him. “I think everyone is a little bit selfish. I also think that a lot of people realize they have to slow down if they don’t want to outpace me, but not very many do it without thinking like you do.” 

Isaac hadn’t realized that was something he’d done. “Huh. Alright. Thanks, Peter.”

“Why’d you ask that?” Peter asked as they walked. “It’s a strange question out of nowhere like that.” 

“Just curious. Don’t worry about it.” Isaac wondered what kind of questions they were going to ask him when he got up there and sighed again. He really wasn’t looking forward to this. “Let’s go get lunch.”


	13. It's Easy to become Adrift without Proper Guidance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So starting now all (all!) of my work is being beta-ed by the amazing and lovely The_Royal_Gourd. I feel like a real grown-up writer now. Anyway, they are pretty excellent and I thought I should let everyone know that!

“What’s your earliest memory?” 

“Having my face licked by one of the dogs.”

“What was your first word?”

“Um…” Isaac thought about it. “It was probably ‘dog.’ Actually, no. Mom told me once it was ‘sit.’” 

His interrogator today was a lady in white named Flora. She smiled, showing the lines on her face. “Did the dog sit when you told him to?” 

Isaac wasn’t sure if she was actually interested or if that was one of the questions as well. “Probably not.” 

“Probably?”

“I don’t remember. But I was a baby, and dogs don’t usually listen to babies.” 

“Did you name any of the dogs?” Flora asked. 

“Sure, some of them.” She couldn’t possibly have planned this line of questioning, Isaac thought, squirming a little in the uncomfortable chair. She was obviously making the questions up as she went on. 

But then, he was pretty sure most of them had. Yesterday a man named Gunther had asked him a thousand questions about his friends’ parents professions and how much of an impact they’d had on his life and he couldn’t have imagined how the man could have planned any of it.

“What did you name the first one?”

“Dust.” 

“Dust?”

“Yes. She was grey, from a black litter.” 

“Interesting.” Flora noted something down on her little paper that Isaac wasn’t allowed to see. “What about the others?”

“Um. Pyre. Quake, Terror, Squirrel, Moonbeam, River, Michaq, Shadraq, Abendego, Carrot, Two-Tail, Bellhook, Sunshine, Gooseberry, Slather, Hellhound, Beast, Wiggle, Shirt, Pygmy, and Extra.” 

“That’s an interesting assortment of names.” 

“We’ve raised a lot of dogs. ‘Spot’ was already taken.” 

Flora smiled again. “I suppose so. Did any of them ever bite you?”

“Sure.” Isaac shrugged. “Most puppies will bite.”

“What about when they’re older?”

“No. They know better by then. Sometimes we’ll bring in a stray or a feral, but you learn to be pretty quick so they can’t bite you.”

“What happens when they die?”

“We take their bodies into the forest and leave them somewhere to be eaten.” Isaac said, shifting again. “If you bury them something’s just doing to dig them up again anyway.” 

“Did you ever have to put a dog down? For being ill, or injured.” 

Isaac nodded. “How do you do it?”

“With a crossbow.” Isaac said, voice a little dull from necessity. “Sometimes an axe if they’re too small for the crossbow.”

“Did you ever…”

“Yes.”

“How old were you the first time?”

“Nine.”

“That’s awfully young to be made to kill something, don’t you think?”

Isaac’s eyes flashed as he looked at her again. “How old do you want people to be before they learn that things die? I was always taught that part of taking care of something is knowing when it’s time for it to die. A dog that’s really sick or old will just stop eating until it starves to death. Sometimes we’ll let them do that if they’re not in pain, but usually it saves them a lot of suffering if you do it for them. And they didn’t force me.”

“They gave you the choice?” Flora seemed to have been looking at the area just around Isaac with some interest, but returned her attention to him now. 

“I insisted on it. It was Terror. He attacked a moose and…” Isaac shook his head, looking away from her. “I named him, I raised him, I trained him. It was only right.” He shook his head again, wiped his eyes. “Mom showed me how to load the crossbow, helped me hold it so I wouldn’t hurt myself. I pulled the trigger myself.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Isaac shrugged, didn’t look up. He didn’t want Flora to be sorry. He wanted Terror to have listened when Isaac told him to back down. 

“Are you okay, Isaac?”

“I’m fine.” Isaac muttered, though he wasn’t sure he was. “You’re not going to make me tell you about every dog I had to kill, are you?”

“No. That’s all the questions I had. You can go.”

“Thanks.” Isaac got up, turned away from the little table and the uncomfortable chair, left the tiny room. There must be, he thought, some way to hear what was being said in there, because he was only ever in there with one person, but he strongly suspected that most of the mages didn’t trust each other to report on the right information from their little sessions. Yancy and the rest were likely listening in even if he couldn’t see them. It annoyed him that he’d nearly started crying today. 

He had to climb down fifteen flights of stairs to get to the entrance of the main tower, which wasn’t as bad as going up fifteen flights of stairs to get here, at least. The first few days of this someone had been there to escort him up and down, but by now Isaac knew the way and they didn’t bother anymore. He usually took the grey stairs, which he thought of as the Shadow Stairs.

There were usually people on the wide stairs, but Isaac was good at ignoring them and getting out of the building without having to talk to anyone. He passed by a group of three people with his head down, still thinking about Terror, and by extension about Moonbeam, Bellhook and Wiggle, the last of whom he’d just had to put down in the summer. 

“Isaac.”

Recognizing the voice, Isaac looked to realize who he’d just passed by. A smile came unbidden. “Oliver!” Impulsively he stepped forward and hugged Oliver tightly. They hadn’t seen each other since they’d gotten here. 

To his mild surprise, Oliver hugged him back, if only briefly. “I missed you, Isaac.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Are you okay? Looks like you were crying.”

Isaac faked a little laugh, stepping back. “I’m fine. They’re boring to me tears in there is all. They want to know everything from my first word to my dead dog. I have to answer truthfully and you know how hard a time I have not snarking at people. It’s exhausting.” 

“But you are answering them?”

“Yes, I’m answering them.” Isaac looked at Oliver properly now. This was the first time he’d seen his friend not dressed in travelling clothes, clean and rested and properly fed. “You look good, Oliver.” He said, without thinking. 

Oliver flushed and shuffled his feet a little on the stairs. “Thanks.” He said finally. “So do you. How are you liking the academy?”

“Nobody’s tried to kill me yet.” Isaac shrugged. “I made friends, like you said. I’m only bored during the day.” 

“They’ll probably start you all in regular classes soon.” Oliver said with a patient smile. “I know the meditation class isn’t the most interesting.”

“I usually make a game out of guessing who’s trying not to fall asleep and who’s just sitting there counting time.” 

“You don’t think that maybe some of them are actually meditating and trying to see the Pillars?” One of Oliver’s friends asked. She was tall and dark and pretty, her hair cut almost to her scalp. 

“Sure.” Isaac said, looking way up at her. It didn’t help that she was two steps above him. “But I don’t need to guess—those ones are pretty easy to spot.” 

“Sorry.” Oliver said sheepishly, indicating his two friends. “This is Irene and Christopher.” 

Christopher was blocky and broad-shouldered, and took Isaac’s hand firmly with an almost sly grin that surprised Isaac. “Nice to finally meet you. We’ve heard all about you, Isaac.” The way he said Isaac’s name had Isaac smiling back at him. 

“It’s true.” Irene said, narrowing her eyes at Oliver. “Oliver never shuts up about you.” 

“That’s…” Oliver flushed again when Isaac turned an amused look on him. “That’s really not true.” 

“Oh, nice, Oliver.” Isaac said, crossing his arms and staring Oliver down. “And here I thought you loved me.” 

“Isaac!” 

Isaac broke, giggled. “You’re still too easy.”

“And you’re still a pain in the ass.” Oliver huffed with a shake of his head. “I’m glad you’re doing well, especially with all this.” Isaac just shrugged again, but Oliver wasn’t done. “Have you been able to talk to Nicholas much? You two might have a lot in common.” 

Isaac couldn’t quite hide his little sneer. “Yeah, we’ve talked a bit. Nice guy. Seems like someone who’d get along with Yancy.” 

The way Oliver’s expression changed just slightly told Isaac he’d gotten the meaning. “He needs a boot up his ass, if you ask me.” Christopher said conversationally, drawing Isaac’s attention again. Oliver looked at him in a vaguely disapproving way, but Irene nodded. It was only then that Isaac recognized that he’d seen them both before—they were the two who’d been with Elijah when he’d brought Nicholas back. “I mean he’s not a bad kid, he’s just…”

“He’s a little intense.” Irene agreed. “But I guess that’s to be expected in a chosen one.”

Isaac didn’t think that he himself was particularly intense, but maybe that shouldn’t have been surprising.

“ _If_ he’s the chosen one.” Oliver said, with some heat. “It’s just as likely that he’s an ordinary kid, remember.” 

“Oliver, I don’t even think Yancy believes that at this point.” Isaac said, glancing down the stairs. 

“You stop that.” Oliver said, waving a finger at Isaac, who blinked at the sudden sternness. “You…” he seemed to realize where they were. “You’re having supper with me tonight, Isaac.” 

“I am?”

“He is?” Irene asked. “I thought we were having supper with you tonight.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“He likes me better.” Isaac told them. “But I do have friends of my own, Oliver. Honest. I’m not lonely.” 

“That’s not what this is about.”

“We’ll come too.” Christopher announced, grinning. “Can’t hurt to get to know the other chosen one a bit better, right? Get in your good graces just in case? See what all of Oliver’s fuss is about?”

“Chris…”

“Not to interrupt, but we really should be going.” Irene said, pointing up the stairs. “They’re going to be waiting for us, armed with a lecture on punctuality.”

“I should go too.” Isaac said. “I have sitting around and counting floor tiles practice in a bit.” 

Oliver looked between all three of them, clearly displeased. “I’m coming to get you after class.” Isaac didn’t think he’d ever seen Oliver so obviously unhappy before and it kind of made him feel bad. 

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to get out of a conversation he definitely didn’t want to have, though. “You say that like I’ve ever had any trouble avoiding you, Oliver.”

“You’re not going to avoid me.” 

Oliver held Isaac’s gaze for a minute, until Isaac looked away, feeling oddly guilty. “I should go.” He said, starting down the Shadow Stairs and turning away from the three of them. “Nice meeting the two of you. I’ll…I’ll see you tonight, Oliver.” 

“Yes, you will, Isaac.” 

Isaac bit his lip and went down the steps, pretending the flush on his face was from the exertion and not from the almost possessive tone Oliver had taken at the end there.


	14. Night Owls Have All the Fun after Boring People Go to Sleep

_I miss you. And tell the dogs I miss them too. Love, Isaac._

Isaac put the quill back in its little stand and vigourously shook out his hand until he could pretend it wasn’t cramped anymore. How did people spend their whole lives writing things? 

Once he could move his fingers again Isaac carefully blew on the letter to dry the ink and then folded it up once he was sure it wouldn’t smear, tilted the candlestick to pour wax on the fold and used the stamp on the table to press it down, leaving behind an imprint of the academy’s sigil, which was three pillars (of course) in a triangle. 

Isaac had to admit that being able to send letters with sigils on them was pretty cool. 

He turned the letter over once the wax had dried and carefully wrote his parents’ names and the name of his town on the front, thinking that he should have done that first when he realized how bumpy the paper was. 

When he was finished Isaac sat up, stretching the discomfort out of his shoulders. The little writing tables in here weren’t the best places to sit for an hour, but where else was he supposed to write? He wandered away from the table and down the aisle, to the main desk. 

He was met halfway there by a tall woman with kind eyes and a crooked nose. “Hey, kid. All done?” 

“Yeah.” Isaac held out the letter and she took it with a smile. “Thanks.”

“Mail’s going out tomorrow.” She told him. 

Isaac nodded because he knew that—that was why he was here tonight. “Thanks for always letting me come so late, Ariel.” 

“Oh, you’re welcome, I don’t mind at all.” She said, her mane of frizzy hair flying about behind her as she turned to lead Isaac back to the front. “I’m nocturnal too and it’s not like I own the place.” Ariel was an apprentice like Oliver and she said she liked working in the mail room because it gave her a quiet place to study. 

“Still, it’s nice of you to let me bug you every week.” Isaac insisted.

Ariel shrugged. “It’s a nice distraction. I mean, I love magical architecture, but it gets dull after a few million hours.” 

Isaac laughed. “I guess so.” 

“When they give you real work to do, you can come here and study.” Ariel said with a smile. “Everyone goes to the library, but nobody thinks to study in the mail room. And I can help you.”

“I feel like that would be a waste of your time.” 

“Do you really think helping people is a waste of time?” Ariel asked him.

“I…no.” Isaac frowned to himself. That wasn’t what he’d meant. 

“Me either. So come ask if you have any trouble with homework, okay?”

“Okay.” Isaac smiled. “Thanks, Ariel.” They’d reached the front of the room and Isaac glanced at the staircase. “I should go before someone notices I’m not in bed.” 

“Good luck.” Ariel waved him off and Isaac waved back as he went to the staircase and started up. 

The stairs took him to the main floor of the central tower, and Isaac made his way through the hallways there until he was in the main room, and towards the door. 

Where he ran into Spencer. “Isaac.” He said, sounding surprised. He adjusted his glasses and squinted as if to make sure that was who he was really talking to. “What are you doing here?”

Isaac hooked a thumb behind him to indicate the mail room. “Sending a letter to my parents.”

“At this time of night?” 

“Yeah. I feel like I’m in the way if I go in there during the day.” He probably shouldn’t have said that, Isaac thought, But it was true, so whatever. “What are you doing here so late?” 

“Well…” Spencer blushed and pulled a folded piece of paper from his shirt. “The same, actually. I forgot that it was mail day tomorrow.” 

“There’s someone down there who can take it for you.” Isaac said, smiling a little. He found Spencer very cute. “Want me to wait for you?”

“No, that’s okay. I was thinking I might try to meditate a while before bed anyway. Think about nothing. See if I can see the Pillars.” 

“You’ll see them soon.” Isaac promised, but he patted Spencer on the back and went past him. “Try not to stay up too late, okay?”

“Like you’re one to talk.” 

“Fair point. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Isaac. Skip’s out with a few of the other guys doing something I don’t want to know about at the girls’ dormitory, so it’s just Peter in the room.”

Isaac nodded. That meant he didn’t have to be quiet, since Peter was often up just as late as Isaac was and he slept like the dead anyway. “Thanks.” 

Spencer nodded and disappeared down the hallway to the mail room and Isaac watched him go, biting his lip and wondering what the best way to broach the subject of naked time with him would be.

But he didn’t bother to wonder about it for too long, heading out from the main tower and towards the dormitory. There wasn’t technically a curfew or anything, so it wasn’t as though he wasn’t allowed to be out at night, but Isaac always felt like he was sneaking around when he went out in the dark. Maybe because most of the time he was sneaking around, but still. 

“God.” A shadow nearly collided with him and Isaac stepped back in mild alarm as it danced around him. “Get out of the way.” It hissed, moving past him and disappearing into a small copse of trees a few feet off the path. 

Isaac heard voices calling from where the shadow had come from and, glancing at the strand of trees, crouched down and pretended to be tying his boot. Curiosity, he thought, was going to kill him someday. 

Probably not tonight, though. Two people were running up the path, a globe of light following behind them so Isaac couldn’t make out their faces. “Hey!” One of them called. 

“Hey.” Isaac waved, squinting into the light. “What?” 

“Did you see someone run by, kid?” 

“Oh, hey.” The second person said. “It’s Isaac.” 

Isaac brought up a hand to block the light from blinding him too badly. “Christopher?” 

It was indeed Oliver’s friend, and he crouched in front of Isaac. “What are you doing out here?”

“Chris, we don’t have time.” The other man said, impatient. “Did someone run by here or not?” 

“Yeah.” Isaac said, pointing off in the direction of the main tower. “Bumped into me. Went that way. Why?”

“Go after him, Andre.” Christopher said. “I’m just going to sort Isaac out and I’ll be there in a minute.” Christopher’s friend nodded and ran off toward the tower, the globe splitting in two so half could stay with them. “We were out walking—smoking, but you didn’t hear that from me.” He added conspiratorially. “And we saw someone slink over the wall.”

“Isn’t that impossible?” 

“The barrier doesn’t stop people climbing over.” Christopher shrugged, helped Isaac up. 

“Huh. Seems like an oversight.” Isaac muttered, pretending to brush something off his clothes. He looked up at Christopher with an affected shyness. “Hope you catch him. I’m okay, you should go help your friend.” 

Christopher smiled down at him, and the interest in his expression was clear even with his face half in the dark. “And what are you doing out so late?” He asked, smiling. 

“Sending a letter to my parents.” Isaac said, smiling back. The other day during his dinner with Oliver that Christopher and Irene had attended, he’d been pretty sure that Christopher had been looking at him more than was necessary. Isaac was no stranger to signals of this variety, and he’d wondered if they might run into each other again. 

This wasn’t what he’d had in mind. “That’s the excuse you’re going with?” Christopher asked him, a hand on Isaac’s arm. “I’ve heard stories about you, and I doubt that’s what you were doing.”

“Stories? Good ones, I hope.” Isaac chose not to let it bother him that he actually did happen to be telling the truth tonight. 

“Interesting ones. Are they true?” 

“How badly do you want to find out?” 

Christopher laughed. “I have to go after him. Maybe we could talk more about this…another night.”

“I’ll see if I can make room in my schedule.” Isaac said. A part of him wondered about someone Christopher’s age who was this interested in someone Isaac’s age, but a bigger part of him thought Christopher was pretty hot. 

“Hm. I bet you can.” Christopher said, running a finger along Isaac’s chin for a second before pulling back. “See you later, Isaac.” 

“Soon, I hope.” 

Christopher didn’t answer and moved off, following after his friend to the tower. Isaac waited until he was out of sight before turning around and heading into the trees, tugging on Light as he went to illuminate the area just a bit. He wondered how hard it could really be to make those globes of light that other mages used. Maybe he should try. 

He found the figure huddled behind a small bush. He’d have been nearly invisible if Isaac hadn’t been looking. “Hey, Jacob.”

Jacob turned his face up at Isaac and glared. “What the hell are you doing here?” It was the night for coincidental reunions, it seemed. 

“I’m a student here.” Isaac said, crouching in front of the thief. “I’d ask what you’re doing here, but we both know. Are you planning to steal anything fun?” 

“Just scouting the layout tonight.” Jacob grumbled. “You should have told me there would be patrols.” 

“When was I supposed to tell you that?” Isaac asked. 

“Before, I don’t know! Not everything has to be my problem, Ivan. Sometimes you have to take responsibility for your own actions too.”

“Isaac. And sorry about that.” 

“Whatever, and I’m not accepting your apology.” Jacob scowled some more, looking Isaac up and down. “I wasn’t…actually expecting I’d run into you here.” 

“That makes two of us.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Did you at least get rid of those two apes for me?”

“They’re heading for the main tower.” Isaac said. “I hope that’s not where you were going.” 

“Obviously not. I’m not _stupid._ ” Jacob sighed rather dramatically. 

“Can I kiss you again?” Isaac asked, because Jacob was here and why not?

“Fine.” Jacob said immediately, averting his eyes a little. “But only because I have a bit of time to kill.” 

“Of course.” Isaac leaned in and kissed Jacob lightly on the mouth. 

“That’s it?” 

“Well, you don’t have _that_ much free time, do you?” 

“Oh, for…” Jacob pulled Isaac forward and kissed him properly, tongue and all. Isaac fell forward until he was nearly in Jacob’s lap, pressed against a tree. He could feel the branches of the bush poking into him but he didn’t care that much. 

Jacob finally pushed Isaac back after a minute. “ _That_ is how you kiss your roguish intruder friend when he sneaks in to see you in the night.” 

“I thought you weren’t expecting to see me here?” 

“Shut up.”

Isaac smiled and kissed Jacob again, properly, until they were both short of breath and hot in the face. “That better?”

“Better.” Jacob pushed Isaac back a little and stood, peering around the tree to see if there was anyone out there. “Not great, but better. I have to go; your disembodied light is giving my position away. I’ll…um. I’ll be back, probably a few times. I don’t know when.” 

“I take a lot of walks at night.” Isaac said, standing as well. “Maybe I’ll see you.” 

“Maybe.” Jacob tried for disinterest and didn’t succeed. “I’m in the city too, so if you’re ever out there…”

“I’ll keep my eye out for you.”

“I’m going now.” Jacob muttered, and even in his low light, Isaac could see how red he was in the face. “Work. You didn’t stick your hand down my pants this time.” 

Smirking, Isaac leaned in and gave Jacob a kiss that fell in between his first one and their other two. “I promise I will next time.”

“Whatever, I mean I’ve got my own hand, it’s not that big a deal…” Jacob trailed off, shifting uncomfortably. “Okay, bye.”

“Bye, Jacob.”

“I didn’t forget your name.” Jacob said, instead of moving off. “I just pretended I did so you’d think I was cool.”

Isaac snickered. “You should go before they come back.”

“I’m going, I’m going, God, you’re not the professional here.” Jacob looked around again before moving out of the trees and further into the grounds. 

The shadow that he became out of the light lingered a little longer than Isaac thought was necessary, so he quietly called out, “I do think you’re cool, by the way.”

“Shut up, I’m working!” Jacob squeaked, darting off and disappearing. 

Isaac laughed to himself, stepping out from the foliage and heading in the direction of the dormitories. It had been a much more fun night than he’d expected.


	15. Part of Growing up is Learning to Recognize Your Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The working title for this chapter was "Isaac Makes a Mistake." But I felt like that was too obvious so I changed it.
> 
> Warning also for brief spiders.

“Your room is nicer than mine.” Isaac said, a little scandalized. “It’s actually warm in here.”

“Three quarters of students leave after the initial training period. There are less of us, so we can get nicer rooms.”

“I feel like more students would stay if we had nicer rooms.” Isaac grumbled. The apprentice’s rooms weren’t enormous, but there was a bed, a long table on one wall, some bookshelves, a little table for eating or studying and some chairs, and a wardrobe in one corner. Plus a nice sized window that looked out onto the grounds. The room was a little disordered, with possessions scattered about, but Isaac didn’t mind that.

“Now I’m starting to feel like you’re using me for my bedroom.” 

Isaac turned and smiled. “I’m offended that you’d think I’m so shallow.” 

“It was shockingly easy to convince you to come up here with me.” 

“Who said it was you that convinced me?” Isaac asked, and Christopher laughed. It hadn’t taken very long for Christopher to find him again and offer to resume their conversation from the other night. “Unless you do this often?”

“I don’t.” Christopher said with a smile of his own. “Though I’m guessing you do.” 

“When I can.” Isaac shrugged, reaching out and grabbing one of Christopher’s arms, fiddling with the sleeve a little. “Usually I like people closer to my age, but every once in a while it’s nice to have someone a little more…mature, I guess.” He gave Christopher a gentle tug before dropping his arm and going to sit on the bed, looking up expectantly. 

He really didn’t need to seduce Christopher, since they were already here and they both knew why, but it was fun to do anyway. 

Christopher chuckled, came and sat beside him on the bed. “You’re not all that subtle, are you?” As he talked, he reached down to the hem of Isaac’s shirt and started to lift it up. 

“Now why would I need to be subtle?” Isaac asked innocently, helping Christopher remove his shirt. Christopher tossed it aside carelessly, eyes hungry as he looked down.

Instead of doing anything interesting, though, Christopher brought a finger up to Isaac’s arm and ran over the birthmark there. “That’s definitely the Mark.” He muttered, almost to himself. 

“It’s just a stupid birthmark.” Isaac said with a frown. He didn’t want to talk about this. “Doesn’t mean anything.” He looked down at it because it was there and was struck with the sudden thought that it looked like something he’d seen somewhere else, but he couldn’t place it.

“Probably not, no.” Christopher said. “Nicholas has the exact same one.”

“Did you fuck him too?”

“No, just bathed together.” Christopher smiled. “Can you imagine?”

“Not really.” Isaac said with a grin. He climbed into Christopher’s lap. “You’d never fit up his ass with that stick that’s stuck there.”

“Whereas you have all kinds of room.” Christopher’s hands moved down to Isaac’s backside. 

“Promise.”

“You’ve got at least one thing on him, then.” This was punctuated with a hard squeeze.

“The important thing, I think.” Isaac muttered, though that comment made him feel a little funny. “I really didn’t come here to talk to you about Nicholas.” 

“Oh? What did come here to do, then?”

“Well, I thought I’d start by sucking your cock.” Isaac said coyly, looking up at Christopher with wide eyes. 

“Cute.” Christopher said. “Here, first let me do you a favour.” He tilted his head down, indicating for Isaac to follow his gaze. 

Isaac did, and shouted in alarm at the spiders crawling all up his arm. He reached down to hit them away, but just slapped his arm and they disappeared all at once. “What the fuck.” Isaac wasn’t afraid of spiders or anything, but nobody wanted to see something like that and now he had his heart pounding in his chest. 

Christopher was laughing. “Sorry, kid.” He said. 

“What did you do? That wasn’t funny!”

“You went white for a second there, though you’re turning red now.” Christopher observed. “No need to get embarrassed. Here, I’ll show you what I did.” He reached out and Isaac saw him touch a Pillar. “Can you see this?”

“Yeah.” Isaac answered warily. He was still not pleased. Spiders kind of killed the mood, he thought.

Christopher nodded his head. “Course you can. Here, grab it.” Tentatively, Isaac reached out his hand and gently allowed the Pillar to touch his palm. It buzzed, similar to Light but not quite the same. “Shadow.” Christopher said. “Most people who can only see one use Light or Dark, but…” He shrugged. “I guess I’m a bit of a freak.”

“Shadow…” Isaac muttered, taking careful note of the Pillar’s position relative to the others. There wasn’t much point if he couldn’t find it again later. “What did you do to me with it?”

“Shadow is pretty good at making people believe things that aren’t real.” Christopher said, tugging at one part of the Pillar with a finger, near where it intersected with another. “It was kind of mean to scare you, but emotional upset is helpful to get at a Pillar you’ve never used before.” 

“Thank you.” Isaac said, running his hand up part of the Pillar’s length. “Everyone else seems to think I need to wait forever before I can do anything with them.” 

“I’m not everyone else. Besides, Nicholas can use Light and Shadow too. It seems only fair to give you the chance to catch him.”

Isaac’s eyes flitted up to Christopher for a second. He hadn’t known that. “Why? Wouldn’t it be easier if I didn’t?”

“Yeah, and to be totally honest, Isaac, I don’t think you’re the chosen one. But if you both reach everything that you’re capable of…”

“It will be easier for them to tell.” Isaac nodded. “And nobody will have to worry that they made the wrong call.”

“Exactly. Now.” Christopher took Isaac’s chin and turned his head back away from the Pillar. “I think you mentioned sucking something?”

“I did do that, didn’t I?” Isaac grinned, letting Shadow disappear from his hand and reaching down in between them, finding Christopher hard already. “I can thank you for the help.”

Christopher just grinned back at him and let Isaac undo his pants, freeing his erection. Isaac slid down onto the floor, giving Christopher a cheeky look before sliding as much of it as he could fit into his mouth all at once. 

Isaac’s earlier comment about sometimes wanting someone a little older than he was hadn’t entirely been a seductive fiction. He mostly liked people his own age and after the long journey here with just some of Yancy’s guards to entertain him, he’d enjoyed being around his new friends for a while. But every once in a while Isaac felt the urge for something a little…bigger.

Christopher was definitely bigger, and Isaac went down eagerly, though he did pause for just a second when large hands came to rest on either side of his head. Not pushing him down or even holding him in place, just sort of there. “God, kid.” Christopher said with a moan when Isaac starting moving again. “No wonder Oliver likes you so much. You were hanging off him like this the whole way here, it’s a wonder he gave you up.”

Isaac frowned, wanting to tell Christopher he and Oliver hadn’t done this, but he wasn’t about to interrupt what he was doing for it. Instead he focused on the taste and texture of Christopher, the weight in his mouth and the scent he gave off. As a challenge to himself, he tried to relax the back of his throat, let more of Christopher in, and was more than a little pleased at the low groan he got when he succeeded, sliding the rest of the way down the shaft. 

He was far less pleased when, a moment later, Christopher’s hands grabbed Isaac’s hair and pulled him back and off his cock. Isaac coughed. “The hell?” 

“Sorry, kid.” Christopher panted, letting Isaac go. “I’ve got big plans here and you about set them off early.”

“Is that your way of telling me you can’t go twice?” 

“It’s my way of telling you get the rest of your clothes off.” 

Isaac sat back, looking up at Christopher. “Are you always this polite with people who want to fuck you?” 

“Only the pretty ones, kid. Come on, get up here.”

Isaac didn’t like being called pretty, but it wasn’t a big enough deal for him to make noise about and besides, the idea of getting out of his pants was pretty appealing. He stood, stretching, and quickly undid the offending garment and stepped out of it. Christopher seemed amused that he wasn’t wearing any smallclothes. “Someone was eager. If I didn’t know better I’d even say desperate.” 

“I’m not the one who’s about to stick it in a student. What about you?” Isaac asked, reaching forward to help Christopher with his shirt. “You’re overdressed.”

Christopher gently took his hand away. “I’m good.”

“Maybe I want to see you.”

“Can’t always get what we want, kid.” Christopher smiled, pulled Isaac into his lap again and started positioning as if to enter him right there.

“Woah, hold on.” Isaac said, pulling away just a bit. Christopher frowned at him. “You’ve obviously never done this without a girl. You can’t just do that, you need to stretch me first.” Isaac was pretty sure Christopher couldn’t just do that with a girl either, but that was a little outside his area of expertise so he didn’t comment. 

Christopher didn’t look impressed. “You worried I’m not going to fit? You make it sound like you’ve had plenty of people stretch you before me.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Isaac said, a little annoyed. “Some sort of oil or something, then fingers first. That’s how it works.”

“Fine.” Christopher made a little scoffing sound. “Don’t have any oil, so if you want wet you’ll have to make it yourself.” He proffered a hand, poking at Isaac’s mouth. Smiling a little because that was fine, Isaac opened and let Christopher stick some fingers inside, swirling them around until he was satisfied. “Alright, lay down. You’d better be clean down there.”

“I am.” Isaac said, a little offended.

Isaac lay down on his back, and Christopher flipped him over. “The boy thing is a little distracting.” Christopher admitted, sliding one finger inside Isaac without ceremony. “This way’s okay with you, right?”

“Yeah, sure.” Christopher was hardly the first person who’d found the ‘boy thing’ distracting. That was Isaac’s favourite part, but he was getting what he wanted, so he didn’t much care. 

“Good.” Christopher said, ignoring Isaac’s wince as he stuck another finger in. This was a little rougher than Isaac preferred, but it wasn’t like it _hurt_ or anything. “You can be my pretty little girl.”

“Not a girl.” Isaac said, voice a little tight. He knew some of his partners had preferred to pretend that, but Isaac was a boy and he wasn’t ashamed of that. “I don’t do the girl thing. You can pretend all you want, but keep it in your head.”

“Fair enough. Oliver was okay with you being a boy? I never figured him for the type.”

“Oliver and I never did this.” Isaac hissed a little at the third finger, trying not to squirm too much. “Can you imagine?”

“No.” Christopher chuckled, though he sounded a little surprised. “I see what’s going on now. Fine. I’ll quietly pretend you’re a girl, you can pretend I’m Oliver as loudly as you want. And we’ll both have fun.”

“I’m not pretending you’re Oliver.” Isaac grunted, banishing the errant thought that Oliver would be a lot gentler than this. “No point in doing this if I’m lying to myself about it, is there?” 

Christopher had a way of laughing that sounded like he wasn’t taking Isaac entirely seriously. “Also fair. This enough stretching for you?”

“Yeah, you’re fine.” There was still a sting that Isaac wasn’t fond of, but it would pass quickly. Christopher straddled him, pulling his fingers out all at once and, before he could do more than flinch at the sudden loss, Isaac felt weight being positioned where they had just been. He cried out partly in surprise, partly in pain, when Christopher drove into him with one thrust. “Fuck.” 

“You okay down there?” Christopher panted.

“You’re a little too rough.” Isaac grated. “Slow down.”

“Sorry, kid.” Christopher slapped Isaac, not too hard, on his left thigh. “You spend too much time with boys. This is how men do it. You’ll get used to it.” 

Before Isaac could answer Christopher started thrusting in and out as if he were riding in a horserace. The sting was slowly fading and Isaac waited patiently for the part where it got better, but before that came, Christopher grunted and came inside of Isaac, thrusting deep inside and holding there while he shot. 

“Really?” Isaac demanded. “Three seconds?”

“Why’d you think I pulled you off before?” Christopher panted. “Don’t worry, I’m not done. That was just to get you ready for the main event.” 

“The main event.” Isaac snorted. Christopher had paused, and after a second Isaac realized he was taking off his shirt. “Thought you said you were good.” 

“Changed my mind.” Christopher yanked his pants down a little farther and leaned in, hand on the small of Isaac’s back. “Ready?”

Before Isaac could answer Christopher started moving again, immediately picking up the same pace as before and even speeding up as he went, his thrusts coming harder and harder. Isaac wanted to tell him that it wasn’t a goddamn race, but he was past the point now where it hurt and found himself gasping for breath. 

It was a strange experience for Isaac. Christopher fucked like an animal in heat, moving hard and fast, the force sometimes lifting Isaac right off the bed. At first he kept a hand on Isaac’s back, but then moved and grabbed Isaac’s hips with both hands to keep him in place as he slammed in and out of Isaac. He grunted and groaned throughout the whole thing, and his sweat dripped down onto Isaac’s back. 

Isaac was sweaty too—he wasn’t used to exerting himself this much in a position like this. But it was exhausting just being on the receiving end of Christopher. Isaac couldn’t catch his breath and he found himself trying to thrust in tune with Christopher, trying to rub himself some friction against the bed, as Christopher either couldn’t hit that spot inside of him or didn’t care enough to try. It was almost like Christopher didn’t even realize there was a person under him—Isaac may well have been a sack of meat for all it mattered. 

But for all that, it was _good_ in a way that Isaac hadn’t expected. It was exhausting and loud and bestial in a way that Isaac’s sex usually wasn’t and he didn’t want it to stop. After building for what must have been several minutes, Isaac came against the bed with a loud cry that tensed his whole body and sent stars across the insides of his eyelids. Christopher paid him no heed, keeping up his erratic thrusts with a focus that was honestly impressive. 

When Christopher finally came with was with an animalistic keen that went on for at least a full minute as he pumped Isaac full of warmth. He collapsed on top of Isaac, slick with sweat, and lay there panting with him for a while before rolling off and pulling out. After a second Isaac rolled onto his back beside Christopher. “Fuck.” He breathed.

“You said it.” Christopher panted. The whole room smelled like him. “I see why Yancy picked you now.”

“Huh?”

“I’m surprised you were able to take all that.” 

“So am I.” Isaac said, head pleasantly fuzzy. He was still hard, but continued grinding against the bed after he’d finished the first time had left him overstimulated. He was tingly from his thighs to his belly. “Felt like you were trying to rip me in half.”

“You made a mess on my bed.”

“You made a bigger one in other places.”

Christopher laughed. “Right. I guess I’ll forgive you.” 

“Wow thanks.” Isaac muttered, a little sleepy. “How generous of you.”

“So you never did that with Oliver?”

Isaac shook his head, looking blearily at the ceiling. “No. He didn’t want to.”

“Course he didn’t.” Christopher sighed. “Would have been good for him. Yancy?”

It took Isaac a second to realize what the question was. “Ew.” He giggled. 

“Then who the hell’d you fuck to get plucked up as a chosen one?” 

The pleasant buzz in Isaac’s head was slowly fading, but it still took a second for the implication to penetrate. “I didn’t.” He said, looking up at Christopher with a frown. “I didn’t. I was actually with someone when Yancy found me.” He wasn’t sure why he’d said that. 

“Huh.” Christopher sounded a little surprised. “Okay. I guess I just kind of figured that was why it was you.”

“No. I don’t know why it was me.” Isaac mumbled, feeling like he should clean up and get dressed. He could feel Christopher’s cum trickling down his leg. 

“You and everyone else.” Christopher said, quietly enough that Isaac wasn’t sure he was supposed to hear. “Oh well. I like having you here regardless. I’m guessing a lot of other people do too.”

“You calling me a slut?” Isaac asked, cuddling in a little closer and deciding that fuck it, he could clean himself up in the morning. 

“You saying you aren’t?”

“No.” Isaac smiled.

“Then I guess that’s what I’m calling you. Maybe we don’t tell Oliver about this, hm?”

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, thinking of his friend. It would hurt Oliver’s feelings, Isaac thought, if he found out about this. That had occurred to him before as well, but his conclusion then had just been not to let Oliver find out. Now he was wondering if he’d been wrong. Was it selfish to do something that would hurt Oliver, even if Oliver wasn’t going to find out? Maybe it would have been better to say no to Christopher.

On the other hand, Isaac had enjoyed himself a lot, and it wasn’t like Oliver owned him. 

“All right, you’ve got to go.” Christopher said suddenly, when Isaac yawned. 

“What?” Isaac asked, bleary and a little confused. “Why?”

“Can’t have people see you leaving my room in the morning. Especially if we don’t want Oliver to find out—people talk.” 

“I’ll get up just before sunrise.” Isaac said, stubbornly not moving. “Nobody will see me. I’m too tired to move.”

“Sorry, kid, no. Can’t risk it.” Christopher sat up, pulled Isaac with him. “You’ve got to get lost while you can.” 

Isaac let out an annoyed huff. “Fine.” He sighed. Gingerly he climbed off the bed, willing some strength into his legs and making a face as he felt Christopher’s cum start to slide down his thighs further. He grabbed the edge of one of Christopher’s blankets to wipe himself up.

“Hey…”

“It’s already a mess.” Isaac muttered, turning away to find his clothes. His pants were where he’d left them by the bed, but after putting them on—holding himself as tightly as he could to avoid unfortunate staining in the back—he found his shirt wasn’t easily located. 

Christopher watched him from the bed, pulling his own pants up but making no effort to dress besides. “Feel like I should owe you money.” He said, quietly enough that Isaac couldn’t quite hear him properly.

“What?” 

“Nothing. Just thinking about how cute you are. Even if you are a boy.” 

Isaac smiled over his shoulder. “Not cute enough to stay in your bed, though.”

“Not cute enough to get myself kicked out of the academy over, no.” 

“Fair enough.” Isaac said, though he was still a little miffed. He found his shirt behind a chair with a strangely lumpy sack on it and pulled it on, stretching out a kink in his back. “Okay.” He said finally, telling himself that he could summon the energy to make it back. “I’ll go now, into the cold night, where I’ll freeze to death and then haunt you from a frozen hell for not letting me stay.” He bent down and quickly put on his boots, and grabbed his coat from the hook by Christopher’s door.

“Uh-huh. Get moving, kid, before I decide to take those pants off again.” 

“I think I’d be okay with that.” Actually, Isaac wasn’t sure he could handle another round at the moment. 

“See you later, Isaac.” Christopher said with a patient smile. 

“Bye, Christopher.” Isaac blew a kiss and carefully inched the door open. Nobody in the hallway. “And thanks. I had a good time.”

“Me too. Come see me again sometime. Maybe after they get all the chosen one stuff sorted. I suspect you’ll have a lot of free time.”

“Yeah.” Isaac laughed. “Maybe.” And he slipped outside, closed Christopher’s door behind him. 

Quietly Isaac made his way through the apprentices’ quarters, not running into anyone. The only thing he was really worried about, he found, was that he’d run into Oliver. 

Which didn’t happen, but as he stepped outside into the cold night air and started back to the other side of the academy’s grounds where the student dormitories were, Isaac couldn’t quite banish the thought of what Oliver’s face would look like if he found about it what Isaac had just done. 

It made him feel a little bit sick to his stomach. 

The pleasant tingling all gone now, Isaac headed back to his own bed, feeling more and more with every step like he’d just let Oliver down. 

By the time he snuck back into his room, Isaac didn’t have the energy to do anything but collapse fully dressed into his bed, where he fell asleep dreading the next time he would see his friend.


	16. Any Benevolent Orginization Worth Its Name Is Home to At Least One Evil Conspiracy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot development time! 
> 
> Actually a lot of chapters in this story are plot development time. I know it seems to meander a lot, but bear with me, haha.

“Sorry about Christopher.”

“What?” Isaac said, trying not to stare too obviously at Oliver. “What do you mean?” 

“The other night, when he invited himself to supper. He’s a little overbearing sometimes. I wanted you to meet him, but not quite like that.” 

“Oh.” Isaac felt relief flow through him—part of him had been convinced in that moment that Oliver knew about what had happened between himself and Christopher. “Don’t worry about that.” He said with a laugh. “You’re allowed to have other friends besides me, Oliver. I still had a good time.” 

“Good.” Oliver smiled contentedly, and Isaac let out a breath. “Still, I’d like to spend some time with you alone, if that’s okay.” 

“Sure.” Isaac said, looking around. “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?” 

“Well, yes.” Oliver admitted, smiling a little. He had shown up earlier and informed Isaac that it was time he had a tour of the academy. “But I would like to be able to talk a little more privately. Not like you’re thinking.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything.” 

“You’re a liar and you’re not even good at it.”

Isaac laughed. “I missed you, Oliver.” Oliver just looked at him as if in surprise. “I really did. There are people here who I like, but I’ve missed talking to you.” 

Oliver coloured just a little, but smiled at him. “I missed you too, Isaac. Sorry I haven’t made any time to see you yet.”

“You’re busy.”

“I’ll make time.” Oliver promised. “In a few days I want to take you out somewhere—away from the academy for a while, I mean.”

“We’re allowed to do that?” Isaac glanced in the direction of the gates, which he could just make out from here. They were walking a path between buildings, amidst rapidly melting snow. “I just kind of assumed we weren’t allowed to leave.”

“The academy isn’t a prison, Isaac.” Oliver said patiently. “That said though, students are allowed to leave in small groups, as long as you’re back before dark and there’s no more than four of you.”

“They’re afraid five students would be too rowdy?” Isaac smiled, but mostly he was just surprised the limit wasn’t three. It would have been in keeping.

“They’re afraid five students would split up and get lost, probably.” Oliver shrugged. “Apprentices can come and go whenever. If you’re with me, they’ll let you go.”

Isaac frowned. “They’re not going to let me go at all unless you’re supervising me, are they? Me specifically, I mean.”

Oliver was quiet for a minute. “Probably not.” He admitted finally. “At least not until…”

“Yeah. Is it that I’ll run away that worries them, or that someone might attack me?” The academy was safe as promised, and it had almost led Isaac to forget at times that people had tried to kill him on the way here. Another thing he would be glad to let Nicholas deal with. 

“I don’t know.” Oliver said quietly. They’d come upon a building that looked as if it had been twisted by a giant hand after being built. “This is the library.”

“Lots of room for books in there.” Isaac commented. The building was seven storeys tall.

“The bottom three floors are for students, the first two for everyone and the third for only magical students.” Oliver told him. Apparently, and Isaac hadn’t realized this, the academy’s lessons on history, philosophy, mathematics, theology and various other non-magical subjects were considered the best in the kingdom and all kinds of non-magical people paid to have their kids educated here. The non-mage kids didn’t live in the dormitories with Isaac and the rest of them—which explained why Isaac periodically saw groups of people around the campus who he’d never run into in the dormitory. “You have to be an apprentice to get to the fourth floor, and fully trained to use the fifth and sixth. Only the most powerful mages are allowed on the seventh floor at all.”

“That’s where they have all the good stuff, then.”

Oliver laughed. “Probably. You’ll have to let me know.”

Isaac blinked, taking Oliver’s meaning after a second. “They’re not going to let _me_ in there and we both now that, Oliver.”

“Yes, they are.” Oliver insisted. “You’ll have to tell Nicholas what it’s like too.”

“Why are you so sure?” Isaac demanded. “That it’s me? Why?”

“Because I know you, Isaac.”

Isaac shook his head. “That’s not a good enough reason.” 

Scowling down at him, Oliver let out a breath. “It is. And even if it wasn’t, I’ll tell you something I’m not supposed to. Nobody has any idea what it is that you did that night, with the wraiths. I saw it and I don’t know, and I can’t recreate it—I’ve tried.” 

Isaac didn’t have much of a response to that, so he looked back up at the library. “It was an accident and you were too hurt to see properly.” He muttered. “Not like I planned it that way.” 

“No, but you touched something that I can’t seem to reach. Now, I’m not the strongest mage ever, but people better than me don’t even have an idea of what you did.” 

“Just because they weren’t there.” 

Smiling, Oliver shook his head. “Anyway, this is the library. You’re free to use it whenever you want. I suggest you do—you never know what kind of interesting stuff you might find in there.” The long look he was giving Isaac was clearly meant to communicate something. “I’m not even sure the teachers really realize how much is actually available to students, honestly.” 

“Okay, sure.” Isaac said, nodding along. He thought, maybe, that he understood what Oliver was saying. “I’ll try to spend some time in there soon.”

“Good plan. Come on, there’s something else cool I want to show you.” 

“Just saying, but I’ve heard that line before and it’s usually a lead-up to someone taking off their clothes.” 

“Isaac.”

“Just saying.” Isaac repeated, smiling as he stuck his hands in his pockets and followed after Oliver. 

“Your one-track mind is going to get you in trouble someday.”

Isaac was worried it might have already done that, but he kept smiling. “But it’s going to get me laid a lot before that, probably.”

Oliver just laughed and didn’t answer. 

The academy’s campus was much larger than the few buildings Isaac had been to. The students’ and apprentices’ dormitory buildings were in front of the main tower on the right and left sides respectively. The library was a smaller tower behind the main one, which housed all of the mages’ research space. There were three buildings (of course) that were used for teaching magic to students and two more that looked like fortresses in miniature, which were for more advanced practice. There was also a long building that housed ordinary classrooms for non-magical subjects, in addition to the Beehive, which was near the student dormitory and not nearly as nice. There was an imposing little guardhouse near the gates and a conical building near the back wall that Oliver told him was where the shield around the academy was generated, though Isaac suspected there was more there than that. In between the main tower and the library was a series of squat structures that were the faculty’s apartments. The grounds themselves had copses of trees and a pond that people swam in in the summer. Oliver pointed all of these out to Isaac as they walked around, but it was to the last building, a stately-looking manor home in the back right corner, that he was led. 

“It’s a museum.” Oliver told him as he led Isaac inside. The front room was full of paintings of imposing-looking people and Isaac self-consciously wiped his boots on the mat by the door, worried he’d make a mess. 

“Why do we need a museum and a library?” Isaac wondered. “Are mages that interested in their own past?” 

“Yes, and you’ll see why.” Oliver led him down a hall on the left and into another room full of sculptures, with some antiques scattered here and there among them. 

Most of the sculptures seemed to depict people being hurt or murdered. “What the hell?” 

“Read one of the plaques.” Oliver suggested, pointing Isaac towards one of the sculptures. It was of a woman holding a baby aloft by the ankle. 

Isaac did as Oliver told him, wondering what was going on. 

_Darla Summerstone._ The plaque read in silver lettering. Some dates followed. _Believed that magic could be infused into children at a young age with spellcraft. Abducted and murdered nineteen young children before being apprehended by Clyde Garnet. Executed at the age of thirty-seven._

“She murdered a bunch of kids.” Isaac said quietly.

“Babies, mostly.” Oliver added. “Want to read another one?” 

Isaac nodded, moved on to a sculpture of a crazed-looking man with wolves snarling around him. _Heath Devern. Enchanted wolves to aggressively attack humans and settlements, and claimed to have the power to stop them in order to be made lord of the villages north of Tynda. Responsible for the deaths of at least seventy known victims. Killed in a spellcraft battle by Roald Green in alliance with the witch Calliope Titlehorn at the age of fifty._ There was a long tooth on a small pedestal near the statue. 

“Is this whole place…”

“Mistakes that we’ve made.” Oliver nodded. “It’s a museum for the things we don’t like to talk about. Things mages did that have hurt people.” 

“Why would there be a museum about this?”

“Because forgetting mistakes is the biggest mistake you can make.” Oliver told him, gesturing for Isaac to follow as he headed down another hallway. “Because we want to make sure we never forget why it’s important that we use the power that we have to help people. We have to remember that we don’t have the luxury of denying who we are.”

“Why do I feel like I’m being lectured?”

Oliver smiled over his shoulder at Isaac. “Because I don’t like that you’ve given up, Isaac. You’ve just decided that Nicholas is the chosen one and you’re not even going to try to contest that.” 

“I don’t get to contest anything.” Isaac grumbled. “It’s not my decision.”

“But you’ve made a decision anyway. We know we’re not perfect, Isaac, despite what you might think. We’re always trying to be better. Help us be better.” 

They came to a long hallway and started down it. “How the hell do I know how you can be better?” Isaac asked, a little sullen. 

“You’re the chosen one and you know it.”

“I don’t know it, though.” Isaac protested. “Nobody knows, that’s the point.”

“You know it, and I know it. Yancy and Diana know it. Yeah, there’s a whole process, but we all know the truth. Don’t you see, Isaac? Two chosen ones? Somebody is trying to sabotage you.”

“You trying to tell me Elijah is going to have a statue in this building someday?” Isaac asked as they passed a stout wooden door. Opposite it was a small room with the door open. There were two people in there playing cards. 

“I don’t know who’s doing it. But somebody’s confusing the issue, trying to make us look at the wrong kid.” 

“Yeah, maybe that’s why _I’m_ here, Oliver.” It wasn’t as though this hadn’t occurred to Isaac as well. “Maybe it’s Nicholas someone’s trying to distract from.” 

Oliver shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I’m not supposed to talk to you, you know.” He glanced over his shoulder. “That’s part of why I haven’t seen you until recently. We’re not supposed to talk to either of you, to influence anything you might say or do while they figure it all out.” 

“Then why…”

“Because I’m worried about you, Isaac.” Oliver said, speaking over him. “Because you’re the one we’re looking for, we both know it and you’ve given up.”

“I haven’t.” Isaac insisted. Though really, he admitted to himself that he’d spent a lot of time thinking about how much easier it would all be if they just picked Nicholas over him. “It just seems so obvious that I’m not who anyone’s looking for. I’m just a selfish, lazy kid.” 

“I didn’t bring you to the museum to show you the statues.” Oliver said, changing the subject as if it were nothing. “That door we passed back there?” 

“The one that was being guarded by those two guys playing cards?” 

Oliver smiled. “Yeah. It leads to the Vault. It’s where the academy keeps all of its magical artifacts. Did you notice anything about the door?”

“It doesn’t match the rest of the place very well.” Since they seemed to be going for innocuous, they might have made it look the same as the rest of the building, at least.

“It’s new.” Oliver said, leading Isaac to a staircase that spiraled upwards. “I want you to stop assuming you’re not what they’re looking for, Isaac. I want you to fight for what’s properly yours.” 

“I never wanted it in the first place.”

“But you stood up after we were attacked and said that you were here, and that people were going to have to get used to that. What happened to that?”

“I don’t know, I…” Isaac sighed, didn’t say anything as they climbed the rest of the stairs. Oliver opened a door and led them into a small room ringed with weapons in little niches. There was a window on one side that overlooked the academy’s grounds. “I saw an easy way out.” He admitted. “It was easier to give up and just screw around than to put up a fight.”

“I’m not saying you have to stop screwing around, Isaac. You’re allowed to have fun. But you’re not selfish or lazy. So put up a fight too.”

“But…”

“Did you hear that a dragon attacked the capital last year?”

Isaac blinked. “Yeah. Made off with the prince, right?” 

“Yeah. The door downstairs is new, Isaac, because someone broke into the Vault while that was happening.” 

“What…” Isaac took a minute as he put that together. “Not a coincidence, I guess.”

“No. They didn’t steal anything because there are more doors inside and a thousand wards around them. But they tried, and it’s supposed to be a secret, so don’t tell anyone.”

“What does this have to do with…”

“It wasn’t a person.” Oliver said, turning away from the window and looking at Isaac. The fear in his eyes was plain and it made Isaac afraid too. “It was a wraith, Isaac, that tried to break into the Vault.” 

Isaac felt himself stiffen as he pictured the creatures that had attacked them the night before they’d come to the capital. One of them had been here, inside the academy. Inside the barrier. “I thought you said they couldn’t get in.”

“They can’t.” 

Pieces were clicking together in Isaac’s mind and the picture they were making made him want to hide in the corner. “Not without help.”

Oliver nodded, and Isaac put his back to the wall. “Oh, God. Do you really think it’s the same person?” 

“I don’t know.” Oliver admitted. “But…” He shrugged, turned back to the window. 

“But there’s a good chance that we’re trapped here with someone who wants to kill us.” To kill _him._

“I’m not trying to scare you, Isaac. And honestly I think Nicholas is in danger as well. I want you to be safe—both of you. I’d like if you could try to get closer to him.”

“He doesn’t like me.” Isaac muttered absently. “Do other people know about this? I mean, you’ve told other people, right?”

“Yancy and Diana.” Oliver said. “They’ve known for a while, I think. I’m sure other people know. I put it together the other day when I heard about the break-in. I confronted Yancy about it. We’re trying to keep it a secret.” 

Isaac nodded. “You don’t want people to panic.”

“They don’t want whoever’s responsible to know we’re on to them.” Oliver sighed. “And none of us want anyone to get hurt. Isaac, I’m not trying to scare you.”

“You said that already.”

“I’m saying it again. I don’t want you to feel like you have to be looking over your shoulder all the time. Nobody would be stupid enough to attack you in the middle of the academy. I just want you to be careful.”

“I…” Isaac took deep, careful breaths. Everything outside of this little room here suddenly seemed so sinister. “I’m putting him in danger, aren’t I? Nicholas, by not challenging him.”

“I don’t know.” Oliver said. He reached over and took Isaac’s hand. “But it’s possible. If everyone thinks he’s the chosen one, he might be targeted.” 

Unless, Isaac thought, someone really had planted Nicholas to sabotage Isaac. But he saw the logic—a clear chosen one presented a clear target. The sabotage could work for them because keeping the waters muddy meant neither of them was worth attacking. The unclear water might be what whoever it was wanted, but if Oliver and Yancy and Diana were on to them, it would be helpful to keep them unclear for a while until that could happen, at which point…

“I don’t like him much.” Isaac muttered. “But I don’t want him to get hurt.” Isaac wasn’t made for this kind of convoluted planning. He was just going to have to make it simple for himself and trust that Oliver knew what he was doing. 

“Then protect him.” Oliver said. “You’re not selfish and you’re not lazy, no matter what you’ve been told. Make an effort.” 

Smiling, Isaac reached out a hand and let the Pillars appear before him. Oliver glanced over at him and Isaac brushed a hand against Shadow, tweaking it just a bit. The size of the room seemed to change for just a moment and Isaac let it go. Oliver looked at him with a small smile. “How long have you been able to do that?”

“Just a few days.” Isaac answered. He didn’t need Oliver to know why he could do it. “There’s still stuff I can see but not touch yet.” 

“Who knows you can do it?” 

“Right now? Nobody.” Isaac lied with a shrug. “By the end of today? Probably a few people. If I make an effort.” 

Oliver snorted. “Good.”

“I really missed you, Oliver.”

“I missed you too.” Oliver squeezed his other hand. “I’ll be seeing more of you now, whether they like or not.”

“Assuming Yancy and Diana don’t kill you for telling me all of this.”

“Assuming that, yes.” 

Isaac smiled and just let Oliver hold his hand for a while longer. It seemed like it was the only thing keeping him in place at the moment. “I’d like that, though. If I could see you more.” 

“Yeah.” Oliver said, and it made Isaac feel warm. “I’d like that too, Isaac.” 

It was hard, when he felt close and safe like this, to be worried.


	17. Learning is Never an Easy Process

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my desire to write this story was because of how much I love prophecies as a narrative trope. With that in mind, I thought maybe it was time to actually put some of the prophecy out there to be read, for Isaac and the rest of us.

“Prophecies are bullshit.” Isaac declared, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall. 

“Yeah.” Peter didn’t look up from the book he was reading beside Isaac. “I could have told you that.” 

“I mean.” Isaac sighed and opened his eyes again, gesturing down at the book in his own hands. “This doesn’t make any sense, and maybe it’s just because I’m stupid, but it’s a page-long prophecy and then there’s an entire book trying to explain what it’s about. And it doesn’t match what the other books say it’s about. What the fuck.” 

“People interpret differently based on what they’re expecting to see.” Peter shrugged, turning a page. “And based on their own situation. You should really hope this guy’s wrong. He’s saying that the chosen one and the messiah are the same person. If that’s true, there’re three more prophecies about you, not to mention most of a religion.”

“Fuck.” Isaac had just finished reading a refutation of that theory, but how was he supposed to know what to believe anymore? He was starting to respect Elijah’s proclamation before that he shouldn’t be allowed to read the stupid thing. 

Like Oliver had said, there were all kinds of books in the academy’s library, including several dedicated to prophecies. Isaac had taken them all out and was now massively regretting it. 

“‘He will come into the world at the meeting of light and dark, he will bring radiance to the night and darken the day; he will walk the three ways and he will quit the world asunder and divided.’” Isaac read. “What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?” 

“That’s the point, Isaac.” Spencer said from up above him. “If it was clear, there wouldn’t be a thousand people trying to figure out what it meant.”

“I know, but if it’s a prophecy why can’t it just say ‘His name will be Isaac and he’ll be born on this day and he’ll be really cute?’” Isaac pretended not to hear the laughter from the others. “Just, who decided that this was foretelling the future? Maybe it was meant to be a story.” 

“Isn’t it translated?” Spencer asked, poking his head over the side of his bed to look down at Isaac now. “Maybe it makes more sense in the original language.” 

“Then why can’t people agree on the meaning when they translate it?” Isaac grumbled, flipping to an earlier page. “Here. ‘He will remake unity, make three into one, weave a new era of triumph.’ Except it’s written in this language called Dynese, and their word for ‘three’ is also their word for ‘twelve.’ And ‘he’ is actually ‘it,’ and ‘unity’ wasn’t a word that existed in Dynese, and the word that’s actually used is really similar to the word for ‘tyranny.’” 

“They speculate too that the prophecy may have been translated into Dynese.” Peter said, rubbing at his leg absently. “And that the original is in an older language from before the Catechism Wars.” 

“Yeah.” Isaac said, because he’d read that too. “Some of the words in the prophecy aren’t in Dynese and nobody actually knows what they mean. You know what one of them is? ‘Chosen one.’ The word is…um…” Isaac picked up one of the other books and looked through it for a second. 

“ _Tren’kiet._ ” Peter supplied.

“Yeah. _Tren’kiet,_ and they say it means ‘chosen one’ because that’s what they fucking want it to mean.” Isaac said, irritated. “It might mean ‘baker’ for all they know. Maybe this is just a recipe for pies.” 

“Do you know how to bake?”

“No.” Isaac snorted, reading the next bit. “‘He will arouse loyalty and fellowship, and they will follow him to prosperity.’ The word ‘follow’ there is usually applied to dogs, this says.” 

“That’s something.” Spencer said. Isaac wondered why he didn’t just come down and read with them if he was interested.

“No, it isn’t.” Isaac said, though he couldn’t make himself think it was nothing. “That’s the point. It’s really easy to look at this stuff and think it can apply to whoever you want it to. It’s all so unclear that you can make it say what you want it to say.” 

“‘Mark’ is another one that they don’t know the meaning of.” Peter said, sounding surprised. “‘He will be marked—or branded—with the _yetzt._ ’ I wonder how they came to assume that it was…” He hefted the book, showing Isaac that an image of his birthmark adorned the cover. “I wonder how they came to assume it was anything. I mean…” He rubbed at his forehead, pushing his hair back but covering whatever it was he was hiding with his hand. “I’ve got a mark too.” 

“It’s probably not as bad as you think it is.” Isaac offered.

“Maybe not.” Peter smiled, lifting his hand and showing Isaac the puckered old scar that ran lengthwise across half his forehead and up into his hairline. “I don’t like it, though.”

“It’s cool.” Isaac said, shrugging. 

Peter shrugged back, letting his hair fall to cover it again. He was a little red in the face. “Thanks. But let’s keep talking about you.”

“God, do we have to?” Isaac asked, leaning back against the wall again. 

“I don’t suppose you’ve ever caused the anointed to tremble in their hubris?” Peter asked, frowning. “Anointed?”

“It’s ‘elect’ in this one.” Isaac muttered. 

“Yeah. It’s another one of those words. _Rh’elten._ It’s really similar to _rh’eyltn._ ”

“What word is that?”

“Messiah.” Peter said, tapping his finger against the page. “It’s used in all the messianic prophecies.” 

“Is there a single important prophetic word that has a clear meaning?” Isaac demanded.

“Of course there’s not.” Skip said, sounding tired. Isaac had assumed he was asleep, though he guessed since he was lighting his bed and they were all talking, that wouldn’t have made sense. “Otherwise they wouldn’t be prophecies. And there wouldn’t be people whose entire jobs were to figure out what they meant. Why do you think that you guys are going to be able to figure it out in one night when people have been reading that shit for a billion years?” 

Isaac paused, looked up at the other bed where Skip was. “We don’t, it’s just…it would be nice to know what the hell everyone was talking about.”

“They’ve had a lot more time than you to learn what they’re talking about.” Skip eschewed the ladder and leapt down from his bed, bare feet hitting the floor more softly than should have been possible. He was in nothing but his smallclothes, which was a view Isaac could appreciate. “Maybe the stuff that confuses you isn’t as important as you think it is because you don’t know what you’re doing and other people do? I mean, so what if you don’t know what some words mean in a language nobody speaks? They must have been translated the way they were for a reason.” 

Peter scowled at Skip, but Isaac sighed. “I guess, yeah.” 

“So maybe the people who translated them knew what the words meant, yeah?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Look, I get wanting to figure your life out. And I’d help you if I was smart enough, but I’m not, and you’re just going to make yourself crazy trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do by reading a bunch of books by a bunch of dead people who never met you.” 

Isaac looked at Skip for a minute before laughing a little. “When you say it like that it sounds so obvious.” He was getting a headache from all the reading.

“Not saying you shouldn’t be interested. But maybe take a break?” 

“He’s got a point.” Peter admitted, and it sounded grudging to Isaac. “You’ve been at this almost nonstop for a couple of days, now. It might be worth stepping away for a day or so.”

“Fine, fine.” Isaac stretched as best he could on the cramped bed and went about collecting the books to put away. Peter helped him stack them and Isaac put them on one of the chests before coming back to sit. Peter made no move to get off Isaac’s bed. “Thanks for helping, though.”

Peter just shrugged. “I like reading.”

“I don’t, God.” Isaac rubbed at his eyes. That wasn’t necessarily true, he liked reading just fine. It was just hard to do for a long time. Isaac reached out and poked Light back into place to dim the illumination he’d made around himself, letting just the lantern light the room now. 

“Woah.” Skip said, halfway up his ladder and jumping back down. “Do that again, Isaac.” 

“Do what again?” 

“Whatever you just did with the light. I saw that.” 

The other two were looking at Skip now, and both of them turned to Isaac as one, so Isaac reached out and tapped the Pillar again, lighting the room once more. “Hey!” Skip pointed, looking to Isaac’s left, right at Light. “That’s it, right? That’s the Pillar? Light.” 

“Yeah.” Isaac smiled, waved for Skip to come closer, holding Light in the palm of his hand. Skip crawled onto the bed and carefully reached out. His hand went right through the Pillar.

“Damn it.”

“I saw it for ages before I could touch it.” Isaac told him. “It’s not like grabbing a real thing. You have to sort of…know it’s there.” Isaac didn’t have a better way to explain it than that.

“I _do_ know it’s there, I can see it.” Skip frowned at Isaac.

“That isn’t what I mean.” Isaac shook his head. “It’s like…a bird won’t land on your hand just because you put it out. You have to stand still, only…shit, this doesn’t make any sense, sorry.”

“It’s a mental state.” Peter said, and he was looking at the Pillar as well, eyes wide. Spencer was climbing down and he too was looking where Isaac’s hand was. “Magic isn’t performed with your hands, that’s just something we do to make it make sense. The Pillars shouldn’t be something you can touch. You have to…”

“What, think really hard about it?” Skip was positioned half between Isaac’s legs and half to one side and it was kind of distracting for Isaac. He tried to grab it again and failed.

“It’s not your hand you’re going to touch it with.” Spencer said, climbing the rest of the way down. 

“The first time I touched one, it was…” Isaac bit the inside of his cheek for a second, thinking. “Here.” He grabbed Light more tightly until it buzzed with an almost aggressive energy in his hand. “Try it now.”

“What’d you do?” 

“I don’t know.” Isaac admitted. His hand was shaking a little.

Slowly, and with an almost suspicious glance in Isaac’s direction, Skip reached out again. This time his hand brushed the Pillar and Skip’s eyes widened. “Oh, fuck. It’s there.” He whispered. He tugged a little, and a brilliant light shone all around them.

Isaac laughed, and dimmed the light so they didn’t go blind. “A little gentler next time.” He suggested. 

A hand reached out across Isaac’s chest, and hesitantly, Peter’s hand came to rest on the Pillar as well. He looked Isaac in the eye as he did it, before looking over at the Pillar in clear disbelief. “Isaac…”

Isaac smiled at him before looking up at Spencer and indicating the Pillar with his eyes. Spencer shook his head, made as if to move back. “Spencer, it’s okay.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” He asked quietly. “What if I’m the only one who can’t…”

“It’ll work.” Isaac promised. Spencer looked at him for a long minute before moving around to Skip’s other side and tentatively reaching out his hand as well, gasping when his fingers just barely brushed it. 

“I’m taking all the credit for this.” Skip muttered. “I saw it first.”

Isaac just smiled and gently let go of the Pillar, leaving the three of them with their hands on it. “That’s Light.” He said. 

“No shit, Isaac.” 

Peter withdrew his hand as well, looking down at it and then back up at Isaac. “‘And he will show others the way.’” He quoted. “‘A power long hidden, a truth deeply broken. By his hand the shattered future shall shed ruin and rise from decay.’” 

“It’s just a story.” Isaac muttered, looking back at the Pillar. The other two withdrew from it as well, and all four of them just sort of looked awkwardly at one another for a minute. Isaac smiled at them all. “Congratulations.” He said to them all. 

“You…”

“You did all the work.” Isaac told Spencer firmly. “I can’t force you to touch the Pillar; you did that yourself. You did a good job.” And, Isaac thought, they’d done it without any of the emotional upset that Christopher had told him he needed. He wondered about that. 

“You…you really are the chosen one, aren’t you?” Spencer asked quietly. 

Skip grinned and slapped Spencer on the back. “Of course he is. Lucky us.” 

“I’ll start practicing my pie-making tomorrow.” 

They laughed at him, and Skip sat down right on the floor in front of Isaac and pulled a yelping Spencer down with him. He looked at Peter for just a second. “I’ll let you stay up there since it’d be mean to pull you down.” He declared before turning back to Isaac. “Now. Tell us everything about that Pillar. What does it do?” 

“Well…” Isaac shrunk back a little, surprised by the question. All three of them were looking at him expectantly. “I mean, I don’t really know that much.”

“You know more than we do.” Peter pointed out, poking him in the shoulder. 

“Uh. Yeah. I guess I can show you what I know.” 

“We bow to your wisdom, wise teacher.” Skip said, in such a serious voice that Isaac wasn’t sure if he was teasing or not. 

“Okay, well. One thing I’ve noticed is that the Pillars aren’t the same the whole way down. You can’t just pull on it randomly to make light, you have to…”

Isaac didn’t think he’d ever had anyone’s attention quite this thoroughly before—at least not while he was dressed. It was kind of…neat, the way they were listening. And also terrifying, since he had very little to actually say. But Isaac was careful to only tell them what he knew and not anything more. 

If this was what being the chosen one was really going to end up meaning, Isaac thought as he talked, that wasn’t so bad. He could do this part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will only shill my [Tumblr](https://underhandedpenguin.tumblr.com) one more time after this, promise.


	18. You Can always Count on an Initiation Ritual to Be Uncomfortable

“This is stupid.” Peter yawned. 

“It’s a bonding experience.” Isaac told him, though he was rubbing at his eyes and he was pretty sure he’d put his shirt on inside out. He was also pretty sure it was Spencer’s shirt. 

“We don’t need to bond. I already know you.”

“Not for you and I, Peter.” Isaac shook his head. “For us and them, the older guys. They’re going to admit us as part of the group. The group of, you know, students, I guess.” It was too early in the morning for him to have put much more thought than that into it.

Peter snorted. “And who did you sleep with to learn that?” 

“Nobody, and maybe Thomas a couple of times.” Isaac smiled. The older students didn’t usually have much to do with Isaac’s cohort, if only because none of them had classes together yet so they hardly saw each other for sustained periods of time, but Isaac had managed to make a few friends here and there. Thomas was nice, and only a year older than he was, and a good kisser—and his roommates liked Isaac too. “But that’s not why I know. It has to be a bonding experience, or else there’s no godly reason for them to have woken us all up before dawn.” 

This time Peter’s snort sounded like a laugh, which Isaac thought was progress. Peter had a nice laugh. “I don’t want to bond with anyone who thinks getting up at dawn is a good idea.” 

“Too bad.” Skip called up from a few steps in front of them. Having been shouted awake at this terrible hour—it was actually at least an hour before dawn—they were all heading down to the main room to find out whatever the older students wanted. “They want to bond with you, Pete, so put on your happy shoes.” 

Peter gave Skip the finger even as he yawned again. “I did hear that there’s some sort of tradition where they initiate the new cohort.” He admitted. “I just kind of pictured it happening at, you know, a reasonable time. Like at night or something.”

“We used to do it at night until a few years ago.” A new voice said from behind them, and Isaac turned to see an older boy named Garret, who always looked mad about something but was one of the friendliest people Isaac had met (even if he wouldn’t let Isaac undress him). “The teachers complained that we were too loud, so we started doing this in the morning.”

“Oh, joy.” Peter sighed. “I love loud, especially at this time of day.”

“Aw, come on, Peter.” Isaac said, gently nudging him. He wasn’t a morning person either, to be fair. “It’ll be fun.”

“What in the world would make you think that?” 

Isaac shrugged, gave Peter a little smile. Peter was already rolling his eyes when Isaac said, “Forty-six boys in the dark; how could it possibly not be fun?” 

Garret laughed, clapped Isaac on the back and passed the two of them. “Maybe not the kind of fun you’re hoping for, but it’s fun, promise. So hurry up.”

“I can only hurry so fast.” Peter said, giving Garret a flat look. 

“Fair enough.” Garret smiled. “Take your time. Casts a bit of a pall if you fall down the stairs.” He hesitated, giving Peter’s cane a thoughtful look. “Actually, I probably should go ahead. See you down there, guys.” 

Isaac watched him go, wondering if he should be worried, and Peter watched Isaac. “You like him.”

“I like everyone.”

“That’s not true.”

Isaac thought about it. “I like most people.” He conceded, glancing at Peter with a smile. “You, for example.”

“Shut up.” Peter said, laughing a little. 

“I’m serious.” Isaac said, because it was true. “I like you a lot, Peter. You’re the closest friend I have here.”

That netted Isaac a surprised look followed by a genuine smile. “Thanks, Isaac. I like you too.”

Not in the same way, Isaac inferred, but that was okay and he smiled back. 

It was a few more minutes before they got to the bottom of the stairs, and Isaac and Peter were the last to get to the entrance hall, and as soon as they arrived, they were ushered outside into the gloom. They’d all been told not to wear shoes and the grass was cold against Isaac’s bare feet. It was late spring now, but at this hour it definitely wasn’t warm. 

The older boys led them across the grounds and Isaac and Peter ended up at the back of the group again. “You don’t have to stay with me.” Peter told him. “I’ll get there eventually.”

“I’m not going to leave you by yourself.” Isaac said, surprised. He’d been watching Garret confer quietly with Thomas and another boy whose name he didn’t know. “Who knows what might be lurking around the grounds to attack unwitting students?” 

Peter gave him a look. “Yeah, I heard there’s a student here who’ll try to get in your pants if you’re not careful.” 

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded seriously, taking the opportunity to sidle closer to Peter and put an arm around his shoulder. “And you’re cute, so you’d be an ideal target. I’ve got to stick with you and protect your virtue.” 

“Oh, fuck you.”

“That’s entirely up to you, Peter, you know I’m game.” Isaac laughed as Peter shoved him away, and tried hard not to read anything into anything but ordinary teasing. He did like Peter, a lot, but he was finding among people who he hadn’t grown up with that he needed to be a lot more careful about who he propositioned and how, lest he accidentally harm a friendship. He valued Peter too much to risk scaring him away. 

They were herded to an open area of grass that felt colder than usual to Isaac’s feet. He frowned, thinking something didn’t seem right here, and when he focused he saw a long thread of Shadow running through the ground under their feet. 

Isaac started to say something, looking up to find Thomas right in front of him, smiling with his pretty dimples. “You ready?”

“For what?”

And Isaac was lifted off the ground with a yelp, and looked at Thomas in surprise. Thomas was grinning at him and manipulating a Pillar with one hand, and Isaac tried to watch what he was doing but his arms were moved up above his head and his shirt lifted, and he got a little distracted. All around him he could hear boys protesting as they were undressed, but all he said was “If you wanted my clothes off, you know I’d have done it myself.” He did keep an eye on Peter, but it seemed like Garret was being gentle with him and Peter was suffering the indignity in irritated silence, so he wasn’t too worried.

“Aw, Isaac.” Thomas said as Isaac’s shirt came over his head and flew off a distance. He wiggled a finger and the laces on Isaac’s pants started to come undone. “You know that half the fun comes from getting to help with that part.” 

“Fair enough.” Isaac smirked as his pants came down. “You going to show me how to do that? Seems like the most useful magic I’ve seen since I got here.”

“Sure.” Thomas said conversationally, tossing Issac’s pants away. Sadly, he left Isaac in his smallclothes as he glanced down at the others. Garret was doing something with Light to Peter’s cane, but Peter didn’t seem worried, so Isaac didn’t worry either. 

Most of the shouting had died down at this point, and Isaac saw that the rest of the cohort had been undressed, noting with some disappointment that everyone had either been sleeping in smallclothes or had had the presence of mind to put some on when they’d dressed. Oh, well, he figured. It was still kind of a nice view, watching everyone sort of hang there, wriggling a little, rubbing arms to warm up.

“Alright, guys!” Someone’s voice rang out. “Thanks for your patience. This is our little tradition—consider it our welcome to the academy!”

And suddenly the ground below them, that vein of Shadow, vanished to reveal one of the academy’s small lakes, and before the crowd of boys could do more than collective yelp, they were dropped unceremoniously into the near-freezing water. 

Isaac cried out in alarm with the rest of them, but he was giggling by the time he came up for air, even if he was shivering. Not quite what he’d expected, but okay. The water wasn’t that deep, it only came up to Isaac’s chest, so it wasn’t like anyone was in danger of drowning or anything. There were cries of outrage directed at the older boys, and water splashed up at them, which somehow turned into water being splashed around everywhere and a suddenly the older boys were shoving each other into the lake as well and Isaac understood from a noise perspective why the teachers hadn’t wanted this to happen at night. 

“Stupid.” Peter muttered with a sigh from beside him. Isaac smiled at Thomas before drifting over in his direction. “Stupid, juvenile…they dragged us all the out here for this. What a bunch of idiots.”

Isaac splashed him. “Come on, it’s fun. They didn’t hurt you when they dropped you, did they?”

“No, they let me down more gently and your friend water-proofed my cane beforehand. It’s just…” Peter gestured at the horseplay unfolding all around them and laughed a little. “It’s stupid.”

“Were you expecting it not to be?” 

Peter looked at him for a second and laughed again. “I guess not. You’re right, I guess it’s fun.” 

“There’s the spirit.” Thomas said, swimming over to join them. “Just be grateful your clothes get to be dry on the shore—some of us have asshole friends who pushed us in fully dressed.” 

“Do you think I don’t realize part of the game is that you’ll steal the clothes and make us go back to the dorms in our smallclothes?” 

Thomas just looked at Peter for a second before laughing. “Okay, you got us. I guess it’s a bit predictable.” 

Peter shrugged, but Isaac said, “Peter’s just really smart. Hard to keep things from him for long.” It might have been his imagination, but he thought Peter might have coloured at that. 

“I thought it was stupid when I got dunked too.” Thomas admitted. “But it’s an icebreaker—you’ll be in classes with the rest of us soon, so it’s about time we got to know each other, you know?” 

“I feel like an icebreaker couldn’t have been done somewhere there wasn’t actual ice, but yeah, I appreciate it, actually. Not all of us are as, um, outgoing as Isaac.” 

“You’re just jealous.” Isaac said, he’d been looking around and noticed someone. “Hold that thought for a bit. You two talk, I’ll be back.”

“You get a better offer?” 

“Not really, but…” Isaac sighed. “I’ll be back.” He swam off, in a bit of a circle so his target wouldn’t see him, and braced himself and went under the water to get behind him. 

And leapt out of the water with a shout, jumping onto Nicholas’s back. “What the fuck?”

“Hey, you.”

“Isaac!” Nicholas moved as if trying to dislodge him, but Isaac had wrapped his arms around Nicholas’s shoulders from behind, and his legs around Nicholas’s waist, forcing Nicholas to hold him up. This, he thought, was what Nicholas got for going off by himself during a bonding moment. 

In the dim predawn light, he could see the Mark on Nicholas’s right arm, identical to his own birthmark. 

“What the hell are you doing?” 

“Making you uncomfortable.” Isaac said cheerfully. 

“I can see that—why?” Nicholas demanded. 

“Because someone should.” Isaac told him. “Because I saw you try to sneak away from people.” He lowered his voice and leaned in a little closer, speaking in Nicholas’s ear. “Because you spend too much time by yourself and I wish you wouldn’t.” 

Nicholas stopped trying to get Isaac off and looked at him in a kind of funny way. “What do you mean by that?” He asked in a low voice. 

“Exactly what I said.” Isaac said, inwardly slightly pleased for Nicholas’s warmth now that his whole body was out of the water and in the chill air. “You spend too much time alone.”

“I don’t…”

“You do.” Isaac interrupted. “I’ve watched you—even when you’re with people you’re by yourself in your head. You don’t talk to people about…” He shrugged. “Stupid shit. Your favourite colour and why cows have spots. Just serious things like school and the Pillars.”

“Not all of us can afford to be as careless as you, Isaac.”

“‘He will arouse loyalty and fellowship, and they will follow him to prosperity.’” Isaac quoted. 

“What?”

“That’s from the prophecy. Our prophecy. How do you plan to have people follow you if you don’t try to make friends with them?” 

Nicholas shifted. He seemed to be looking around to see if anyone was watching them. “How did you know that? When…when I asked to read it they told me no.”

“Me too.” Isaac smiled. “Turns out it’s in the library. I returned the books the other day, so you could go check them out. My advice is to try not to get too invested in it if you don’t want to go crazy, though, it’s confusing as fuck.” 

Silent for a minute, Nicholas looked at him. “Why did you tell me that?”

“Because it’s not a competition, Nicky. You don’t have to like it, but we’re in this together. And you don’t have to like me, but you can’t always distance yourself from everyone.” 

“I have to, though.” Nicholas said, and Isaac frowned. “I’m different from them.” 

“Yeah, you’re special, I remember.” Isaac shook his head, tried to remind himself that this wasn’t about how he felt. “That doesn’t mean you can’t have friends.” 

“Why are you so interested in what I do all of the sudden?” Nicholas demanded. “Why do you care?” 

Isaac sighed, irritation resisting his efforts to push it back. “Because you’re arrogant and entitled and everything I don’t like in a person, Nicholas.” He said, more harshly than he should have. “Because I don’t like you much, but I do understand the situation you’re in and I feel bad for you, you idiot. You wouldn’t be so damn lonely if you made an effort to have friends. And if that’s not fucking enough for you—people tried to kill you on the way here, when Elijah was taking you here, right?” 

“Yes.” Nicholas sounded a little struck. Isaac guessed he wasn’t used to being told off. “How did you…”

“Me too. If the fact that you’re lonely and need friends like everyone else isn’t good enough, how about this?” He leaned in closer and whispered now. “What if it hadn’t been me who jumped out of the water at you just now? I’m not dangerous, but what if it was someone who likes you even less than I do?” 

“What?”

“You came over here by yourself and made yourself an easy target. At the very least I think you can see the wisdom in not doing that, right?” 

Nicholas looked at Isaac out from one eye for a long time as if trying to read his thoughts, before slowly nodding. 

“Good.” Isaac let out a breath. “I’m going back over there where everyone is now. See you.”

“See you, Isaac.”

Isaac nodded. And smiled, leaning back until Nicholas overbalanced trying to support him, putting them both into the freezing water. He swam away, ignoring the spluttering and splashing behind him. 

By the time he rejoined Peter and Thomas, Nicholas was making his way back to where everyone else was, albeit warily. “What was that about?” Peter asked. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I really, really don’t.” Isaac sighed. Nicholas sidled up to Andrew and started talking to him, and Isaac felt safe in ignoring him now. That was going to have to be enough for today—he could feel Oliver disapproving at him from somewhere, but he could only do so much at once. “Though you know, I know sixty people who just saw me having an intimate conversation with him where nobody could hear, so…” He shrugged. 

Peter looked at him, and Isaac was pretty sure that Peter was smart enough to at least guess what he might be getting at with that. He smiled. “Thomas was just telling me that the boys and girls used to do this at the same time, but they stopped because too many boys felt threatened that all the girls had seen them in their smallclothes.”

“No smallclothes.” Thomas said, splashing Peter. “They used to do it naked too.”

“It’s a shame I didn’t come here a few years ago, then.” Isaac grinned. 

Thomas returned the grin. “When it’s warm some of us go skinny dipping at night.” 

“Just tell me when.” 

“You are literally the most predictable person, Isaac.” Peter said, a hint of fondness in his voice. “If guys will be naked, you’ll be there.” 

“That is…accurate.” Isaac admitted, and both of them laughed. 

“Come on.” Thomas said, gesturing to a nearby group of boys who seemed to be trying to dunk one another. “We have to get out of this water before we all freeze, but I want to introduce you to a few people first.” 

“I’m barely wearing any clothes.” Isaac said, smiling a little. “My favourite way to be introduced to new people. Let’s go.” 

He cast one last glance at Nicholas and saw him with a small group of people, and Isaac smiled. Oliver had been right—He could fool around but still take things seriously when he had to.

He hoped he didn’t have to all that often.


	19. The Quiet Ones are Usually Worth Listening to when They Do Speak up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I looked at this story one day and realized that for a story about a character who has casual sex with a lot of people, there's really not all that much sex in it. But whatever, haha. Here is some sex and some of Isaac trying to navigate feelings.

Isaac woke up with a dilemma. 

On the one hand, he was pleasantly warm, curled up against Skip’s chest, his hand still around Skip’s dick, and slightly stuck to the mess they’d both made before falling asleep. On the other hand, he had to pee really badly. 

Isaac lay there for a good few minutes, trying to will his body not to need things, or failing that trying to will himself back to sleep. Neither worked and eventually Isaac sighed, carefully extricated himself from the softly-snoring Skip and got out of bed. Pausing to grab the first piece of discarded clothing he could in the dark, which turned out to be a pair of pants that he thought were Peter’s, he put them on only because he wouldn’t have to hear about it if he ran into the wrong person on the way to the privy. 

Once outside the room and with the door safely closed behind him, Isaac reached out for Light to give himself something to see, and paused, looking sideways at the Pillar. He’d been warned more than once not to try and do anything with them until he could receive proper instruction—which would presumably be happening soon, apparently in a few more weeks Lee would hold testing to determine which Pillars they could see before transferring them into real classes. But fuck it, Isaac thought, he’d been sitting around waiting for too long and he’d seen enough people do it that he didn’t think it was that hard.

He tugged on Light a little, bringing it slightly to one side until it hovered near another Pillar that seemed to run perpendicular to it. He’d begun to realize that part of his confusion regarding the number of Pillars was that the main ones seemed to branch off into slightly smaller ones that didn’t feel the same to him. He’d never seen any of the other mages using the branch Pillars, though, so maybe they were only used for really advanced magic or something.

It had also occurred to Isaac more than once that he might well be the only one who could see them, but he tried really hard not to go down that road—not out of denial like Oliver might have said, but because he didn’t want to get into an ‘I’m special’ mindset like Nicholas. Lots of magic that he had seen at least involved the branch Pillars, even if nobody seemed to touch them directly. Maybe they were dangerous. 

In any case, Isaac tugged Light until it nearly touched that branch, the glow from both of them intersecting, and instead of that sourceless illumination he’d always made before, a floating cloud of light appeared at his hand, swirling and shifting as if trying to escape. Isaac frowned at it, though it was mostly a squint at the sudden brightness. “Turn into a circle, you stupid…” He whispered, poking at it with his free hand.

It did, though reluctantly. Isaac smiled, his tiredness forgotten for the moment. Not that hard after all. 

His bladder wouldn’t be forgotten, though, and Isaac set off, expecting the ball of light to follow him like it did for everyone else. It didn’t. Isaac turned and scowled at it. He poked it again, thinking that he’d willed it into a circle, so he could will it to move it if he tried hard enough. 

Sure enough, the ball moved with him now, hovering a foot or so behind his head and lighting the way for him. Isaac nodded and kept walking. Magic was easier than it looked. 

There were little privies on every floor of the dormitory, so Isaac didn’t have to go too far to find one. Everyone was asleep at this time of night, so he ran into nobody and didn’t have to wait to get into one of the little rooms. 

When he finished, Isaac came out into the hallway and found that he wasn’t the only one lighting it up anymore. “Oh.” Spencer said, blinking. Isaac’s light was brighter than his, and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. “Hi, Isaac.”

“Hey, did I wake you up?” Spencer had been asleep in his bed when Isaac had left. 

“Maybe. I need to…” He gestured behind Isaac. 

“Right, yeah. Sorry for waking you. Do you want me to wait for you?” It was an automatic question, and he didn’t really expect Spencer to take him up on it. It wasn’t like he was a little kid who couldn’t pee by himself at night. 

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” Spencer said, surprising Isaac. Isaac just nodded and let Spencer pass, leaning against the wall and experimenting with making the ball of light move around while he waited. 

By the time Spencer came back out, Isaac had a pretty solid grasp on how to make it go where he wanted. It really wasn’t that hard. “That’s new.” Spencer said, gesturing at the ball. 

“I just figured it out.” Isaac said, as Spencer tapped Light to get rid of his own illumination. “I can show you how, it’s just…” He reached out and showed Spencer how to do it. Spencer ran his finger up Light until he was in the right place and tried to do as Isaac had. He managed to make the little cloud, though it was a lot more diffuse than Isaac’s had been and faded immediately. His face fell a little. “Try again.” Isaac suggested.

“No, it’s okay.” Spencer smiled a little. “I’ll wait until I’m more awake, I think. And when I can see better.” 

Isaac nodded as they started walking back to the room. “You’re not bad at it, Spencer. You don’t need to worry.” 

“Maybe, but I probably will anyway.” Spencer shrugged. “You don’t need to worry about me—worrying that I’m bad at things is how I’ve always gotten good at things.” 

“Sounds kind of stressful.” Isaac wondered what kind of parents Spencer had who would have given him that attitude. 

“I’m used to it.” Spencer looked away and Isaac read embarrassment in his pose all of the sudden. “Um, Isaac?” 

“What is it?” 

“Is…nevermind.” Spencer shook his head. “No. Is there…somewhere we could…you know, go?”

Only because it was Spencer did it take Isaac a second to realize what he was asking. There was no way Spencer meant it that way—he was way too shy to ask even indirectly like that. “Well, there are a few empty rooms on this floor.” Isaac said. “If you wanted to…talk or something. If you mean going somewhere else, like outside…”

“No, I meant like an empty room.” 

Isaac smiled and he tried to make it reassuring and friendly instead of anything else. Spencer wasn’t quite able to look at him, so Isaac tentatively reached out and took his hand. “Sure. There’s one just down here.” His chest felt just a little tight and Isaac realized he was nervous.

“I mean, if you’d rather go back to bed, obviously that’s okay.” Isaac was already gently tugging Spencer down the hall. “We don’t have to…I just kind of thought that you’re…and maybe you might…be okay with…”

“Hey.” Isaac squeezed Spencer’s hand. “I’m okay with whatever you want to do.” He smiled again. “Which I think you know. Here.” They’d reached a door that Isaac knew led to an empty dormitory room that had been turned into storage and Isaac led them inside, quietly closing the door behind them. There were some spare beds in here and he sat on one, pulled Spencer to sit beside him. “Spencer, if you’re not thinking the same thing I am, do me a favour and tell me now so I can just get embarrassed and be over it?” 

“No, I…I am.” Spencer flushed red, withdrawing his hand from Isaac’s. He always slept near-fully clothed and only now could Isaac see the bulge in the front of his pants. “I um, I heard you and Skip earlier.” 

“Sorry.” Isaac said. He’d tried to be quiet. “I didn’t realize you were still awake.” 

“No, it’s okay. It’s just, well. Normally I do it in the privy. But you and Skip do it together sometimes, and even when you don’t sometimes I hear him. A few times I’ve heard Peter too. Not you—I don’t think I’ve ever heard you.”

When Isaac wanted to touch himself he usually went and found someone to help him with it, though there had definitely been times when he hadn’t done that. “I’m starting to wonder if you actually sleep at all.”

Spencer laughed a little. “Sorry. I’m not trying to listen or anything. It’s just a small room.”

“I wasn’t complaining.” 

“I’m not…as brave as you guys, I guess. Especially you, and sometimes I feel like…”

“Spencer.” Isaac said seriously, looking his friend in the eye. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep that private and to yourself. I know you’re shy, I never meant to make you uncomfortable. I can talk to Peter and Skip, we can be more discreet…”

“No.” Spencer raised his voice to normal speaking volume for the first time. “It’s okay. I um, I kind of like it—not like that, not like that—but I get this sense of…camaraderie. Like, we trust each other enough that something like that isn’t a big deal. It’s…nice. I’ve never had friends I felt…safe with before.” 

Isaac frowned a little, wondering what that meant. “Spencer, you don’t have to prove that you’re my friend.” 

“That’s not what this is about. I want to be a little more like you guys, just a little braver about stuff. Confident, I guess. But mostly…I was listening to you and Skip, and I got hard and I thought, really thought about touching myself in the room. And I couldn’t, but then I did think…I thought, ‘I want to do that with Isaac too.’ And I’m trying to be braver so I’m saying it out loud.” 

“I’m proud of you.” Isaac said, smiling. “I’ve never thought you weren’t brave. I’ve never thought I was brave either, so there you go.”

“You are, you’re the bravest person I know.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Isaac said with a shake of his head. “Now, are you saying all that because you actually want to or because you wanted to be brave? I’m not going to do anything you don’t want.”

“I do want to.” Spencer asserted. “At least to try. I’ve kind of wanted to for a while. The last few times I snuck out to do it I kind of thought, ‘this is silly, why don’t you just ask Isaac.’” He coloured again. “But, I mean only if you want to. I don’t want you to feel…I mean just because we’re friends that you’re obligated or…”

“Spencer, no.” Isaac took Spencer’s hand again. “I’ve thought about it before too. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to suggest it without making you feel like you couldn’t talk to me if you didn’t want to.” For Spencer and Peter both, but Peter wasn’t here at the moment. “I like you—even if you don’t want to. That isn’t going to change, okay?” 

“Yeah, okay. Me too.” Spencer nodded, smiling nervously. “You probably don’t normally have to talk to people this much before…” He didn’t seem to be able to say the words. 

“You know, I never used to care much about the talking to people part.” Isaac admitted. “Since I’ve gotten here, I think I’ve gotten to like it more. I mean, I like sex. I like it a lot, and I’m sure you know I’m not shy about that. But it…I like it better with people I care about. And I like, more than I thought I would, having people I can talk to who don’t necessarily expect that. All my friends growing up knew to expect it from me eventually. It’s nice to have people who don’t, at least not right away.” Spencer, it seemed, wasn’t the only one admitting things out loud tonight. “I mean listen, we’re friends. I don’t want to get married or anything. But I don’t see why we can’t do this, and still be friends, and still talk too.”

“Neither do I.” Spencer smiled. “I don’t want to get married either. I just want to not be hard anymore.” 

He managed to deliver the line perfectly, but Spencer couldn’t stop the deep flush of colour that moved down his neck as he said it, and Isaac had to laugh. “You’re really cute, you know that? Here.” He scooted a little closer. “How about this. You take off your shirt. And I’ll start doing stuff, and when you want me to stop you say so, okay?”

“Okay.” Spencer said, after just a second. “I mean, I want you to…you’re hard too.” 

That was true. Isaac smiled. “Yeah. But Spencer, this is important. Do not let me do anything that you don’t want, okay? Do not. And don’t you do anything you don’t want. Remember that I’m not doing anything I don’t want and I expect the same from you.” 

“But what if…”

“I can jerk off on my own later if I have to.” Isaac interrupted. “Anything I do, I can’t take back. I know it seems like I just…” He shrugged, “jump on people, but I’m actually really careful about this.” With one notable exception, a small voice reminded Isaac. He ignored it. “It’s important, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

Still red in the face, Spencer nodded. “Okay. You’re right. Should I…should I take off my pants, too?” 

“I’ll worry about that.” Isaac smiled. “Take your shirt off and lay down, okay?” 

Spencer did as Isaac told him, still visibly nervous. Isaac undid the laces on his pants, and gently pushed them down, and then did the same with the smallclothes, finding it amusing that Spencer wore both to bed. He kept his attention partially on Spencer’s face as he did, not wanting to go too fast. Spencer was looking down at Isaac in rapt attention. 

Isaac smiled up at him and gently took Spencer’s hardness in his hand. It was a good size, fitting nicely in his palm. And it, like the rest of Spencer, was quivering. “You okay?” 

Still not able to take his gaze away from Isaac, Spencer nodded. “Yeah.” His breathing had picked up when Isaac had touched him. 

“Good.” Isaac squeezed a little, and began to stroke Spencer slowly. Spencer hissed, made fists against the bed. He looked like he wanted to shut his eyes but he kept them open, wide, watching. It didn’t take him long to tense up. 

“Isaac…” Spencer whispered, and he came under Isaac’s hand, splattering his own chest. Isaac smiled, stroked Spencer through it, gently letting him go when he was finished. “Oh, God…”

“You okay?” Isaac asked again, moving up a little, lying beside Spencer. He was so red in the face that Isaac thought he might need some water. But he was smiling, that blissful smile that Isaac was familiar with. He’d closed his eyes. 

“I’m good.” Breathing heavily, Spencer turned his head and looked at Isaac. He smiled weakly. “I feel like…I should have had the courage to ask you for that sooner.” 

“I like that you took your time.” Isaac told him, brushing Spencer’s cheek with his clean hand. “I like how careful you are. It’s endearing.” 

Spencer laughed a little, looking down. “I should…no. I want to—can I do it for you too?” 

“Well, I’m not going to say no.” Isaac grinned, rolling onto his back. Spencer sat up labouriously, and slowly pulled Peter’s pants down. He looked surprised when Isaac sprang free, and he reached down and grabbed Isaac in a way that seemed almost eager. 

Spencer had only an idea of what he was doing, but his hand felt nice and Isaac lay back and let that feeling fill him slowly. In addition to having just done this a few hours ago, Isaac had the benefit of a lot more practice and a lot more stamina than Spencer did, and so for several minutes the small room was filled with the steadily increasing pace of Isaac’s breathing, the soft rubbing of flesh. Isaac focused on the look of concentration on Spencer’s face. It was cute, how determined he looked. Spencer was always cute. He jerked Isaac at an increasing speed like it was the most important thing in the world to him, and Isaac couldn’t quite help the soft mewls of contentment he made as he got closer and closer. 

Isaac exploded with a stuttering gasp, watching himself make a mess on his belly and Spencer’s hand. Spencer held on a little longer than he needed too, but that was okay and Isaac relaxed, smiling up at the ceiling. “That was good.” He told Spencer. 

“Was it?”

“Trust me on this one.” Isaac told him. “Thanks. Not everyone offers to do me back.” Most people were thoughtful enough to offer the return handjob, but Isaac had met his share of those who didn’t. 

“It was…” Spencer lay back down beside Isaac and Isaac cuddled up beside him. “I never thought I liked boys. But I was watching you, and…” He trailed off, but Isaac looked down and saw that he was hard again. 

“Doesn’t mean you can’t still like girls.” Isaac said, smiling and considering Spencer carefully before reaching down and touching him again. Spencer gasped but not in a bad way. “Maybe you like both. Or maybe you just like me. Or maybe you just like this. It’s up to you.” 

“Would you be upset if I decided I didn’t like boys after all?” Spencer asked, making a little noise with it.

“No, that’s cool. Like whoever you like.” Isaac rolled onto his side, giving Spencer a good stroke. “No rule that says you have to figure it out right now. Can I try something else?” 

“What else?” 

“I’d like to put you in my mouth.” 

“Oh, God.” Spencer panted, but he didn’t answer. Isaac kept going with his hand. “Um…”

“We don’t have to. Just thought I’d ask.”

“No, it’s…yes. I’d like that.” 

“You always talk so politely.” Isaac muttered, shimmying down and repositioning. Still laying down, facing Spencer’s cock in his hand. “I wonder what it would take to make you stop.”

“You’re…making it very hard at the moment, Isaac.” 

“That’s my speciality.” Isaac smiled up at Spencer, and then leaned in and gave him a little kiss on the head. 

“Ah!” Spencer gasped, as Isaac licked the salty taste from his lips. This was going to be good. 

Not wanting to overwhelm Spencer, Isaac went slowly, focusing on the head and sucking lightly, using his tongue here and there. In short order he had Spencer writhing, not quite in control of his breathing, struggling to be quiet. That was when Isaac pushed his head down, took most of Spencer into his mouth at once, and started sucking him in earnest.

Even having just cum a minute ago, Spencer arched his back and cried out, shooting into Isaac’s mouth after only a few minutes. Isaac put his free hand under Spencer’s back to help steady him, swallowing all he was given, letting Spencer down gently as he pulled off. 

“Fuck…” Spencer panted. He was a mess, and Isaac moved back up to cuddle. “Isaac.”

“There it is. I wondered if you even knew that word.”

“Of course I do.” Spencer smiled, wrested his eyes open and looked at Isaac. “That was, uh. Awesome.”

“I thought you might say that.” 

“I, uh, I feel like I should do that for you too.”

“Only if you want to.” Isaac said, smiling. Very few people ever offered to blow him in exchange. 

“I think I do. But…”

“Not tonight.”

“Do you mind?” Spencer asked, still trying to catch his breath. “I don’t want you to feel like…”

“It’s okay.” Isaac dipped down and gave Spencer a kiss on the cheek. He was still hard, but he had gone earlier with Skip, so it wasn’t a big deal if he didn’t get off again. “You’re too tired tonight. Take some time to think about whether you really want to. I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Okay. Thanks, Isaac. We should go back to the room.” 

“Yeah.”

“Can we just…stay here for a few minutes, though?” 

“Of course.” Isaac would happily have slept here (and had before), but that was asking too much of Spencer. “This is always the nice part.” 

“Yeah, this is nice.” Spencer agreed, and the two of them just lay there in the afterglow and listened to each other breathe. 

Eventually, though, it was time to go. Spencer sat up with obvious difficulty, looking down at the mess on his chest. “Less mess when I do it myself.” He muttered, as if weighing the pros and cons. 

“Also less fun.” Isaac suggested, thinking the list ought to be evened out. 

“You’re right. It was…better than it’s ever been by myself. Even before you...even before you used your mouth.” 

“We’re made to do it together.” Isaac said, smiling. Spencer looked around and grabbed his discarded shirt, used it to clean up the mess. “People, I mean. And it’s nice when it’s someone you like.” 

Spencer cleaned both of them up and then looked at his shirt as if realizing what he’d done. “It is nice.” He agreed, smiling. “I…I would like to do it again.”

“Me too.”

“The room isn’t that far.” Spencer muttered. “I guess it doesn’t really matter if I don’t put this on.”

“Probably should do your pants up, though.” Isaac teased, giving Spencer a little poke that made him gasp. 

“Probably.” He laughed, and tried to do that, succeeding only on the third try. Isaac hiked Peter’s pants up as well and just let them hang loose on him. They hadn’t been done up properly to begin with. 

Isaac held Spencer’s hand as they walked back to the room. “I’m glad you finally managed to ask me.” He said as they approached the door.

“Me too. I feel kind of silly for taking so long.”

“Don’t.” Isaac told him, gesturing to put the light out as Spencer opened the door. The ball came apart with a small pop and a very small rush of air that Isaac hadn’t expected. “I don’t think you’re silly at all.”

“Thanks, Isaac.” Spencer led him into the room in the darkness, made deeper by their eyes being used to the light. But they managed to get the two steps to the beds, and Isaac helped Spencer find the ladder. Rather than climbing back up to Skip, Isaac dropped Peter’s pants and got into his own bed. “Hey, Isaac?” 

“Yeah?” Isaac was hunting for the blankets. There was merit, he thought, in making the bed on occasion. 

“I know you don’t like to sleep alone. Do you…want to come up here?” 

Isaac smiled in the dark, actually a little choked up at how thoughtful that was. “Yeah.” He said. “I do.” And so he did, groping until he found the ladder and climbing awkwardly up to join Spencer in the bed. “Thanks.” He said, when they were cuddled together under the blankets. Spencer hadn’t put his shirt back on, and the contact was nice. The warmth was nice. Everything about it was nice. “Goodnight, Spencer.”

“Goodnight, Isaac.”

The next morning, it took Skip and Peter two seconds to guess what had happened, and the smile that Spencer wore as he tried to hide his embarrassment but also refused to deny the accusation distracted Isaac for the entire day.


	20. Communal Baths Are Great Places to Have Bonding Experiences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title for this chapter was "Just because Everyone's Naked, Doesn't Mean It Will Be Fun."

“I need a razor.” Isaac muttered to himself, contemplating his underarms.

“Why?” Peter asked, scrubbing his own arm. 

“To shave with.” Isaac said, giving Peter a look. They were sitting beside each other on the long bench in the student bathing room, which featured no baths, just a lot of soap and a fountain of perpetually warm water, which they scooped into buckets and used to scrub themselves off, before going to one of the chutes on the wall, pulling the lever and allowing the water to wash the suds off. The long room featured a lone bench running down its centre for them to sit on while they cleaned, and it wasn’t very comfortable. 

Peter looked up from his arms to squint at Isaac’s. “You just start growing hair and the first thing you want to do is shave it off?” He asked. 

Isaac didn’t enjoy the baths as much as he might have. It was nice, definitely, but he also had to make an effort not to ogle everyone all the time. It was hard to balance not wanting to bother anyone with the fact that he’d never met a boy his age he didn’t think was cute. 

The upside of it all being that he got to have naked time with Peter, even if it was only friendly naked time. 

“Yeah, but that was a few years ago.” Isaac said, lowering his arm and going back to scrubbing his chest. “I’ve been borrowing razors from guys here, but I was just thinking I should probably get my own.” 

“Do you have money?” Peter asked, focusing on his own cleaning. 

“Yeah.” Isaac shook his head. “I tried to tell my parents not to send me any, but they did anyway. And then I sent it back and they sent more.”

“They’re worried about you.” Peter smiled, went to work on his other arm. “They’re just not ready to stop taking care of you yet.”

Isaac didn’t need to ask to know that Peter’s parents weren’t sending him money. “Do you need anything? We could go out together and I’ll buy stuff for you.”

“I wouldn’t…feel right about that.” Peter muttered.

“Why?” Isaac asked. “Not like you’re stealing from me and besides, I think we both know that when we start classes I’ll only pass the ones you help me study for.” 

Peter chuckled. “You’re selling yourself short.” He said, shaking his head. “You’re smarter than you think you are.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” Isaac shrugged. “You should at least let me buy you dinner or something.”

Peter looked at him for a minute, a little colour dusting his cheeks. “Why don’t you like hair?” He asked, in an obvious attempt to dodge the question. 

Isaac shrugged again. “I like it just fine—on other people. On myself, eh. Just not my thing. No real reason.” 

“Hm.” Peter thought about that. “That’s fair. I mean, I won’t wear anything purple, so okay.” 

Isaac smiled. “Thanks.”

“For?”

“Not making fun of me.” 

“Why would I?”

“I don’t know. A couple of guys at home used to bug me about it. No big deal or anything, but…” He shrugged again, moved to his legs.

“Jerks.” Peter declared. “Who gives a damn what someone else wants to look like?” He paused, noticeably eyeing between Isaac’s legs. “Doesn’t it…I don’t know…”

“Hurt?” Isaac asked. “Nah. Not as long as you do it right.” It had taken him a while to figure that out. He looked at Peter, at his contemplative expression, and broke into a smile. “You want to try?” 

“No.” Peter lied, looking away from Isaac and down at himself. “Maybe a little.” 

“I could help you.” 

“Of course you’re going to help me.” Peter muttered, aggressively scrubbing his chest now. “I’m not going to do it alone and cut myself by mistake.” 

“I’ll let you know when I’ve got a razor, then.” Isaac hummed a little and put his head between his legs to wet his hair. If he was right in his suspicion that he wasn’t being given free reign of the city, he’d either have to sneak out or go with Oliver. 

Isaac wasn’t keen on going out alone, not when he knew it was potentially dangerous. Either he’d go with Oliver some time or make sure to arrange to meet up with people after he’d snuck over the wall. After he found a way to sneak over the wall. “We’ll have a date.”

“You have a weird idea of what constitutes a date.” Peter wasn’t quite looking at Isaac anymore. 

“I tried to ask you out to dinner—you changed the subject.” Isaac said, looking at Peter sideways as he put the soap in his hair as well. “I assumed you just weren’t interested in conventional romance.”

Instead of bending down, Peter scooped water from his bucket with his hands and patted it onto his head. “I assumed you weren’t interested in romance at all.”

“I might be.” Isaac shrugged. “I mean, sort of. I don’t get…you know, picking one person and just only liking that person. That doesn’t…” He shrugged again. Other people talked about being attracted to specific people or only finding certain people good looking, which Isaac didn’t understand, and nor did he understand only being interested in one person. “But I’d be willing to give some sort of romance a try. If…” He laughed a little, nervous. “If you were there, I mean.” 

Peter laughed as well, and scrubbed the soap into his hair. “Well, I, um.” He still wasn’t really looking at Isaac. “We should go rinse off.”

“Yeah.” This was more awkward that Isaac had intended—he hadn’t intended for it to come up at all. The floor was slippery so he helped Peter stand, and the two of them carefully made their way over to the chutes to shower. They stood under one and Isaac pulled the lever to let the water down, and with a practiced amount of manoeuvering they both got cleaned off. They’d been bathing together a lot lately. 

When they were finished and moving back to the bench, Peter got Isaac’s attention and nodded towards the door. Nicholas had come in the bathing room. And he was looking in their direction. “He wants to talk to you.”

“Maybe he’s just checking you out.” Isaac muttered, mentally sighing. “I mean, I would but I’ve seen you naked before and I know I will again, so I can restrain myself.” 

“He’s looking right at you.” Peter said as Isaac helped him sit on the bench. 

“He can wait.” Isaac grumbled. “I’m in the middle of something.” 

“Okay.” Peter smiled, looked at Isaac fondly. “Hey, Isaac?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you serious?” He asked. “Do you really want to buy me dinner?” 

“If you want me to.” Isaac tried not to bite his lip. 

“I asked if _you_ want to.”

“I do.” Isaac admitted. “But it’s okay if you don’t…”

Peter leaned in and gave Isaac a very light kiss on the cheek. “I’ve never dated anyone before.”

“Me either, technically.” Isaac said, interested in the floor tiles. 

“I’m willing to…try.” Peter said slowly. “But only if we can still be friends if it doesn’t work.”

Isaac grinned, found it in himself to look up, and was struck again by how pretty Peter was. “Of course.” 

“Alright.” Peter sighed, grabbed his cane where he’d leaned it against the bench, and carefully moved to his feet. “I’m going to go get dressed. You talk to him.”

“I don’t really…want to.” Isaac grumbled. 

“Do it anyway.” Peter advised. “Don’t think I can’t see that something’s going on.” Isaac looked up at him and he smiled. “You’d have told me if you could. I’m not going to ask.”

“Sorry.”

“I’ll wait for you in the dressing room.”

“I won’t be long.” Isaac promised. Peter nodded and turned to go, moving slowly on the slick floor. Isaac watched him go, reminding himself that Peter had been moving around in the world long before he’d met Isaac and if he’d needed help he’d have said so. 

Bolstered by that, Isaac’s attention was motivated only a little bit by concern and mostly by Peter’s bare backside. Really, there was something to be said for a place where everyone was just naked and it was okay. 

By the time Peter was out of sight, Nicholas had finished filling up his bucket and had come over to sit beside Isaac. “You are not very subtle.” Isaac told him. He tipped over his own bucket and let the water spread over the floor. The room was tilted just a bit and it would all eventually run to the drains against the walls. 

“And you would know, being the king of subtlety.” Nicholas said, as he started washing himself off. 

That got Isaac’s attention. He hadn’t expected Nicholas to be capable of banter. “Guilty.” He admitted, and then he very not-subtly checked Nicholas out. And wished he hadn’t, because _damn._

Isaac’s natural instincts had been inhibited when it came to Nicholas since Nicholas was kind of a jerk, and they still were. But now in addition to not liking him much Isaac also kind of wanted to blow him. He wondered how much convincing that would take. 

“I want to know what you were talking about the other day.” Nicholas said, either not noticing or pretending not to. 

“When?” Isaac pulled back mentally and focused on the conversation. “In the lake?” 

“When else have we talked?” Nicholas asked, scrubbing his legs. Isaac kept his eyes up north, or at least tried his very hardest to. “You suggested that I—that we might be in danger.” 

“Did I suggest that?” Isaac asked. “I just wanted a ride on your back, that was all.”

“There’s nobody else here, Isaac.” Nicholas sounded testy. He wasn’t wrong, they were alone in the long room. 

“You’re too easy to rile up.” Isaac told him, and sighed. “Of course I did—people tried to kill you once, what makes you think they wouldn’t try again?” 

“It wasn’t that—you were thinking of something specific.” Nicholas switched to the other leg, wiggling his toes a little as he washed. 

“Reading my mind now, are you?” Isaac asked. He couldn’t bring himself not to make things hard for Nicholas. “That one of your chosen one powers?”

Nicholas sighed. “I knew this was a mistake.”

“Grow a sense of goddamn humour, I swear.” Isaac shook his head. “Have you not realized that there being two of us isn’t a mistake? Someone’s fucking things up on purpose.” 

“Of course they are.” Nicholas snorted. “Obviously.” He lifted up an arm and started washing under there. He didn’t have a lot of hair and Isaac wondered if he was borrowing razors from people too or if it was natural. 

“It’s someone in the academy.” 

Nicholas paused in doing the other arm, looked at him. “Why do you think that?”

Isaac didn’t answer immediately, wondering if he should share this or not. Fuck it, he decided. It was important. “Someone tried to break into the Vault where they keep all their magical relics last summer. It was a wraith, and the only way it got through the academy’s barrier was with help from inside.” 

Now Nicholas was openly staring at him. “How do you know that?” 

“Because I talk to people.” Isaac said pointedly. “And have friends.” 

“Yes, I’ve heard that point already.” Nicholas said, impatiently, moving his hand in a ‘carry on’ gesture.

“The people I heard it from would prefer you didn’t tell anyone.” Isaac said, leaning back a little. “It’s being kept secret.” He wished he had something to do besides watch Nicholas clean himself, but he wasn’t about to bathe all over again just for something to do. At least it was steamy and warm in the room, so he wasn’t cold wearing nothing. 

Nicholas just kept looking at him. “Did they tell you to tell me?” 

“Do you want me to wash your back?” Isaac asked. Nicholas regarded him for a moment longer, before turning and offering Isaac the rag. 

Isaac went to work at it, leaning in a little closer as he did. “I’m just worried.” He muttered. “About both of us.” 

“And you think friends will keep us safe.”

“I think being alone makes us easier to attack.” Isaac shrugged. “And I think nobody’s going to jump us in the academy, but I’ve been wrong about things before.” 

“If there being two of us is sabotage, then when they figure out which of us is the real thing…” Nicholas said, and suddenly he sounded as nervous as Isaac was feeling. “It doesn’t matter which one of us it is, does it?” 

“Not to them.” Isaac agreed. “One of us is the one they want gone, and one of us will be unnecessary soon.” If it was him, he’d keep the decoy alive as long as possible, but Isaac wasn’t an evil mastermind, so what did he know?

“I was…” Nicholas paused, and Isaac finished his back, handed him the rag. “I’m sorry.” He said, preparing to do his hair. “I thought this was all going to go a certain way and when you were here, it was…frustrating. And then I heard stories about you so I just assumed that…”

“That I was an idiot, I know.”

“I…” 

“I assumed you were a jerk.” Isaac admitted with a shrug. “And even if I kind of don’t want to be the chosen one, it made me a little mad that you were too. So maybe we both kind of fucked up.”

“If you’re suggesting that we…be friends,” Nicholas said, ducking to wet his hair, “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. If the point is that we’re supposed to be against each other, whoever you’re talking about might see us getting along and…”

Isaac nodded. “I’ve been thinking a little about that.” He admitted. He’d been trying not to, but he had been doing it despite himself. “We don’t have to be buddies. But we could be…friendly with each other. In maybe a competitive way.” 

Nicholas looked at Isaac again as he soaped his hair. “That could work. It would keep up the image that we’re not talking much, but…it would keep us connected.”

“And any actual connecting that we do could be where nobody can see.” Isaac agreed. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to actually be friendly with Nicholas or not, but since their safety was the issue, he was happy to pretend, at least. 

Maybe it would become real if they gave it long enough. 

“I came to you this time.” Nicholas said, standing to head over to shower off. “I expect us both to have pants on next time.”

“I am never willing to promise that I’ll be wearing pants at any point in the future.” Isaac said solemnly, lamenting quietly that Nicholas looked just as good from behind. “But I’ll try.” 

“Alright.” Nicholas may very well have been smiling as he rinsed himself off. When he returned, dripping, he offered Isaac his hand. Isaac smiled at him and shook it. 

“In the spirit of competition, then.” Nicholas said, looking around the still-empty room. “You can use Shadow and Light, right?” Isaac nodded. “Me too. And…I can see what I think must be Dark, but I can’t touch it yet.” 

Isaac hesitated, but Nicholas held up a hand. “I think it would be best if I didn’t try for now, given what we’ve just talked about, but…”

“I can see it too.” Isaac interrupted. If his theory about the branch Pillars was right, he could make sense of how they ran perpendicular to both Light and Shadow, connecting them. He’d managed to follow some back to what he thought must be Dark—assuming was right. “Something, anyway.” 

Nicholas frowned, still standing in front of Isaac. The way that he was entirely unconcerned about being on display was rather compelling, but Isaac stayed focused. “In that case…”

“The spirit of competition?” Isaac asked, focusing and bringing the Pillars into view. Nicholas nodded and both of them focused on it. It was clear they were seeing the same thing, at least. “I’ve tried a few times to reach it.” Isaac said, a little distant as he concentrated on it. “It hasn’t worked.”

“Yeah, me too.” Nicholas licked his lips, and reached out his hand. Isaac did the same. He hadn’t been sure the last few times. But just before he touched it Isaac _knew._ And his hand touched the Pillar and he felt power course up his arm, a vibration that was different from Light and from Shadow. And just above his hand was Nicholas’s, and Isaac could feel him and the look on his face made it clear what was happening. 

The room got a little darker, the corners seemed to fade. The dripping of water from the chutes slowed just perceptibly. Isaac and Nicholas looked at each other with Dark in between them. “Guess there’s no reason to keep it secret after all.” Nicholas said, and his voice didn’t echo the way it should have.

“No.” Isaac agreed. He let the Pillar go, looking down at his hand and then up at Nicholas. “Whoever did this knew what they were doing.” He thought of Darla Summerstone’s statue in the museum. Maybe someone had managed to figure out how to do what she’d been trying to do. 

Nicholas let go as well and the effect disappeared. He nodded. “Lee’s exam is going to be interesting.” He said with a smile. 

Isaac smiled back, getting what Nicholas was getting at. Seemed his co-chosen one had a bit of a flair for the dramatic. Yancy really would have liked him. “A lot of things are going to be interesting from now on.” He said, and Nicholas nodded again. “I should go.” Isaac stood, stretching. “Peter’s waiting for me.” 

“Best if we don’t walk out together.” Nicholas said, and Isaac smiled at him, heading for the door. 

“I’m glad we finally talked.” He said as he left.

“Me too, Isaac.”

Outside in the dressing room, Peter was waiting for him, tapping his finger impatiently against his cane. “Sorry it took so long.”

“Is everything okay?” Peter asked, as Isaac sat down and pulled out the basket with his clothes in it. Sitting for so long had pretty much let him dry, though he did grab a towel and run it over himself quickly. 

“Yeah.” Isaac cast a glance over his shoulder. “Peter, I want to tell you…”

“No, don’t. It’s okay.” Peter smiled, poked Isaac in the chest with his cane. “You can tell me when it’s time.” 

“I don’t like secrets.” And he didn’t like the idea that there was something as dangerous as Oliver thought and he couldn’t tell his friends. 

“Secrets run the world, Isaac.” Peter said. “I’m not worried. I trust you.”

“Thanks.” Isaac dressed quickly and stood, sighing, and putting it out of his mind for now. “So about that dinner. What kind of food do you like?” 

As he left, they passed by another basket full of clothes. Glancing quickly backwards, Isaac reached in and snatched Nicholas’s smallclothes out of it, figuring he’d toss them in the lake or something on the way back. 

In the spirit of competition.


	21. New Elements Can Cause the Mixture to React in Unexpected Ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when you thought the plot couldn't thicken anymore (there's even more thickening to be done after this, don't worry)

“The examination will be in two weeks.” Lee told them. “There is no need to be stressed or concerned about it; it’s a formality.” She smiled at the class, many of whom Isaac could see looked nervous. “I know all of you can see the Pillars already, else I wouldn’t have scheduled it for a few more weeks. Some of you, I know, have already managed to touch them.”

Several students tried to pretend that she wasn’t talking about them. Isaac just watched Lee, smiling back at her. “You won’t be required to touch any Pillars for the exam.” She continued. “Being that of course none of you have progressed enough in training to do so—and I’m certain none of you have been messing around with them in your off time.” Isaac was pretty sure her gaze moved to him for just a second as she spoke, and he suppressed a laugh. “But if you are capable of touching one or more of them and feel like showing off a little, by all means do so during the exam. But you didn’t hear that from me.” 

“Will you get in trouble if we do?” Andrew asked from the other side of the room. 

Lee laughed a little. “No.” Isaac knew that both he and Aaron had gone to Lee last week to tell her that they’d touched one. Dark, he thought it was. “Officially I’m supposed to discourage you from touching them, but I shall take it as a compliment of my teaching prowess that every last one of you has already secretly confessed the ability to me in private. Maybe I’ll even get a raise in my research funds for it.” 

“Well, now we have to show off.” Isaac chimed in. “We wouldn’t want your research to suffer because of us.” Lee researched compulsion spells and mind control and tried to find ways to protect people from it, which seemed kind of important to Isaac. 

Now Lee smiled at Isaac. “I’m hardly going to dissuade you from thinking that way.” She said. “I’ll also be teaching a beginner’s class on mental magicks next semester if anyone is interested, if I may be permitted to advertise for a moment.” The academy’s school year was broken up by breaks of a few weeks at a time, and after each break new classes were offered. After this examination all of them here would have to decide what they were interested in for the next semester. Peter had gotten his hands on the list a few days ago and been frowning at it since. Isaac had already been considering Lee’s class anyway. 

“A few more brief words about the exam.” Lee continued. “I won’t be the only one there. That’s hardly fair to those of you who will use Light. I will be joined by two other faculty for the invigilation; their names are Flora and Hugo.” Both of them were people who’d interrogated Isaac over the prophecy business. A glance across the room told him that Nicholas recognized their names too. “They’re both very friendly and you needn’t fear them. And generally most of the faculty will attend the exam as well, though only to watch. Please don’t let it get to you too much; they just want to see what you all can do.” 

A few of the students did look nervous, which Isaac understood. On his left side, Spencer was biting at his lip, and Isaac put a hand over his and squeezed, trying to reassure him. “The exam will be held in the auditorium in the main tower. We’ll meet here beforehand and I’ll take you all there. Try to dress nicely, or at least wear clean clothes. Any other questions?” 

“What time of day is the exam at?” A girl named Jessica asked. Isaac didn’t spend a lot of time with girls but he’d liked her the few times they’d spoken. She was very intense and serious in class, but was the first person to make sarcastic comments about the slightest thing elsewise. One of the first things she’d told Isaac was that he should keep doing his thing, because the more boys he distracted the less of them would fawn over her. Isaac didn’t know if it was working, but he’d promised to do his part. 

“Late morning.” Lee said with a nod. “We’ve had incidents with people throwing up from nervousness, so we’ll feed you lunch after.” 

Jessica seemed satisfied and there weren’t any more questions, so Lee nodded again. “Alright, dismissed. Today is technically the last day of class, but I’ve this room booked at our times until the examination if anyone would like a place to meditate.” Thomas had told Isaac that the rest of the students were facing exams the next two weeks, which sounded terrible. 

The noise level in the room rose as everyone got up and gathered their things, talking amongst themselves as they left. “Isaac, a word.” Lee called just as Isaac was about to turn and suggest to Spencer that they go for a walk before lunch so he could calm down. “And you as well, Nicholas.” 

“I have a feeling I’m going to miss lunch.” Isaac said quietly to Peter and Spencer, looking from Lee to Nicholas and back again. “Don’t worry about waiting for me.” 

Spencer looked worried, but Peter nodded. “See you later.” 

“Spencer.” Skip said from behind Isaac. “Why don’t we go back to the room for a few minutes first? I got something on my shirt at breakfast and I want to change.” 

That was a lie and Isaac could tell that Spencer knew, but he nodded gratefully. “Sure.” 

“Thanks.” Isaac said, smiling at all of them as he moved past. Skip nodded at him. “See you guys in a bit.” 

Isaac wandered over to where Lee was waiting, waving at everyone he noticed looking at him as they filed out of the room. Nicholas was already there and Isaac made sure to stand just out of arm’s reach from him, looking elsewhere. Once the door had shut behind the last students, Isaac looked at Lee. “You had a room full of people who could really have used some encouragement.” He said, not rudely. “Today may not have been the best time for this.” 

“Maybe not.” Lee said, as Nicholas sent Isaac a slightly scandalized look. “But surely you two can understand not always having control over what you have to do.” Isaac smiled and looked down at his feet to hide it, and Lee continued. “Though having said that, I’m not supposed to tell you this part.” 

“Then you shouldn’t.” Nicholas probably would have insisted that he wasn’t interrupting, but he was. 

“Maybe, but I will.” Lee said with a smile. “The prerogative of being a teacher. They’ll be using the examination as part of discerning which of you is the one in the prophecy. I didn’t think it was fair not to tell you.” 

Isaac sighed, and Nicholas nodded. “I assumed they would.” Nicholas said, and now Isaac nodded. 

“I wouldn’t get too worried about it.” Lee went on. “Your examination won’t be any different than that for any of the other students. I just didn’t want the extra scrutiny to come as a surprise. Though you’re both smart enough to have expected it anyway, I expect.”

Isaac wouldn’t have characterized himself as smart, so he shrugged while Nicholas nodded his assent to that premise. “Alright, that’s all I needed. You two can…” She broke off as the door to the classroom opened, admitting a severe-looking woman whom Isaac had never seen before. She was large without being overweight, ancient without seeming old, and gave off the impression of being busy even though all she was doing was walking into the room. She carried a cane that she clearly didn’t need, was followed by a harried young woman who had the look of a servant, and wore white, which put Isaac in mind of a Light mage. But a look at her and something told Isaac she wasn’t a mage—he didn’t get the same impression from her as he got from other people at the academy. “Excuse me.” Lee said, obviously annoyed. “This is a classroom. I must ask you to wait outside.”

“Oh, your class ended five minutes ago.” The woman told Lee with a dismissive wave. “Your students told me that when I passed them in the hall. How do you think I knew to come here—magic?” 

“Who are you?” Lee demanded. 

“My name is Cameron.” The woman told them, now looking at Isaac and Nicholas. “Surely the archmage told you that the Grand Coven of Witches was sending a representative to look in on your chosen one, didn’t he?” The look on Lee’s face told Isaac that she’d been told no such thing. “Which of you two children is it, then?”

“We’re not children.” Nicholas bristled. 

“Everyone is a child when you’re my age, young man. My question.”

“You’re not the only one asking it.” Isaac told her, watching her. Cameron’s face was inscrutable, and when she looked at him he felt short. “Which I’m guessing you knew and were pretending not to.”

The woman behind Cameron winced at that, but Cameron just snorted. “Guessing is a game for little boys.” She told him. “And I don’t recall pretending anything.” She took another step closer, peering first at Isaac then at Nicholas as if through spectacles that she wasn’t wearing. Isaac felt a brief tingle and wondered if she was checking them over with magic. She was a witch, at least according to her. Isaac had only ever met one witch before, a distant and cranky man named Lowell who would sometimes wander through the village and peddle cures for liquor. Cameron seemed a lot more like witches were supposed to seem than Lowell. “Hm. Clever.” 

“Clever?” Nicholas asked.

“Don’t make me repeat myself, boy.” Cameron told him, turning away. 

“My name’s Nicholas.”

“I know. This won’t do.” She said, to her servant. “I shall speak with Gregory about this at once.”

“The archmage is fully aware of the situation surrounding the two boys.” Lee protested, though she seemed at a loss. 

“And yet he hasn’t roused himself from his nest to sort it out, now has he?” Cameron asked with a wave of her hand as the younger woman moved to open the door. “I shall see all of you again soon.” And she was off, leaving the three of them alone and confused. 

“Um.” Isaac looked at the door, and then up at Lee. “Why…” No, he had an idea of why the witches would care about the chosen one—Diana had explained that to him months ago. “Why did they let her in?”

“Well.” Lee shook herself as if to clear her head. “I can’t imagine anyone telling her no, can you?” 

“I guess not.”

“She shouldn’t be allowed to just wander around the academy unattended.” Nicholas sounded perturbed. “Isn’t anyone escorting her?” 

“I expect she’s faster than she looks.” Lee frowned, looked at them, then out at the door. “No, I’m not going to let her do that. She doesn’t get to come in here and threaten you and get away with it. Not my students.” She nodded, as if saying that to herself was all she’d needed to convince herself. “You two go get lunch. I’m going to speak with the archmage.” And she was off, after Cameron, leaving Isaac and Nicholas alone.

“Did…she threaten us?” Isaac asked, mostly to himself. 

“I don’t…think so.” Nicholas sounded just as confused as Isaac, and they looked at each other for a brief moment. “We should go.”

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, and he let Nicholas lead him out of the room.


	22. No Matter How Busy Your Schedule, Always Make Time for a Nighttime Tryst Now and Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The return of everyone's favourite thief.

Isaac knew that it wasn’t the best idea for him to wander around outside at night, but he was choosing to take seriously Oliver’s belief that nobody would attack him in the middle of the academy. It was finally nice enough out that there wasn’t a risk of freezing to death at night, and even though he knew Lee’s exam wasn’t a big deal, thinking about it was making it hard for him to sleep at night. 

And besides, he’d promised a certain nocturnal visitor that he’d take walks at night to raise the chances of them running into each other again. 

It hadn’t happened yet, but tonight was Isaac’s lucky night; just as he was headed back to the dormitory after a circuit of the grounds, he heard a hissing sound from a strand of bushes near a wall. “Pssst. Isaac. Isaac. I’m over here. Isaac. Don’t ignore me.”

Isaac laughed a little to himself as he turned, peering into the bushes and not seeing much, but heading over there anyway. “I wasn’t ignoring you.” He said into the bushes.

“So you say.” Jacob’s voice whispered out, and Isaac pushed his way through the leaves and found the thief sitting there in a little clearing, looking annoyed in the moonlight. “But I’ve been waiting all night for you. I mean…” Jacob broke off, looked away. “Not _all night._ I have work, you know. Better things to do than wait around for you. I’ve only been here for a minute or so. I was thinking about leaving because I assumed you weren’t coming.”

Smiling, Isaac settled beside him. “Sorry. I wasn’t sure where you’d be hiding.” He leaned in and kissed Jacob on the cheek. “Hi, Jacob.”

“Hi.” Jacob mumbled, picking at his sleeve. “I’m not hiding. I’m waiting. Only cowards hide.” 

“But not thieves?” Isaac asked. Jacob nodded. “Well, you’re the expert.”

“Damn right I am, and it’s about time you acknowledged that.”

“Do forgive my impertinence.” Isaac channelled Yancy a little bit there. 

“I guess I could be moved to try.” Jacob said, shifting. “It’ll cost you.”

“Can I pay in kisses?” Isaac asked with a grin. 

“Well, I guess if that’s all you’ve got on you, sure, but…” Anything else Jacob might have said was cut off by Isaac’s mouth on his. 

Jacob was a noisy kisser and Isaac was pretty happy to encourage that, not that he had to do much to elicit little gasps and moans and mewls. Mewls, like a cat, and it was the cutest thing. It made Isaac never want to stop kissing Jacob, which he suspected was a plan that would be met with agreement if he asked. 

They ended up flat on the ground at some point, on their sides facing one another, holding on to each other, before they finally came up for air. “Your…” Jacob panted, hands firm on Isaac’s shoulders. “Your apology is accepted.”

“I’m glad.” Isaac said, also catching his breath. Jacob tasted like mint. “I missed you.” 

“Sorry that it took me so long to come back.” Jacob murmured, his hand wandering down to clasp Isaac’s. 

“It’s okay; you’ve got work.” Isaac smiled at him. And then a thought came to him, and Isaac paused.

Jacob didn’t seem to notice. “I feel bad. You weren’t really out looking for me every night, were you?” 

“I told you, I take a lot of walks.” Isaac told him. “I kept my eye out but I wasn’t rending my clothes and tearing out my hair in grief when you weren’t here.” 

“You should have been.” Jacob told him. “I think I’m worth the price of a new shirt, don’t you?” 

“If you’re worried about it, why don’t you tell me when you’re coming back?” Isaac asked him. “Then I could meet you.” 

“Wow, I never said I was _worried._ ” Jacob shifted and didn’t manage to make eye contact. “I don’t really keep a firm schedule. It depends on, you know, things.” 

“Right, of course.” Isaac took a breath, closed his eyes for a second before he was ready to speak again. “Jacob, I need to ask you something.”

“What is it? If I were to help you study for an exam, that would be cheating, you know. You shouldn’t cheat, Isaac.”

“It’s not that.” Isaac looked Jacob in the eye now. “What are you here to steal?” 

For a moment there was silence, and Jacob just looked at him as if worried. “Why do you…”

“I’m not interested in stopping you.” Isaac said, hoping that was true. “I don’t care much about the academy. But I need to know.”

“Nothing important.”

“It _is_ important, Jacob. The last person who tried to rob the academy also tried to kill me. I really like you, but I really need to know that you’re not working for that person.” Jacob wasn’t a wraith, from which Isaac took comfort. But at the same time, wraiths hadn’t worked and what if his mysterious attacker was trying a more mundane approach this time? Isaac was a little worried that he’d never thought about this until now. Maybe he shouldn’t be keeping Jacob’s break-ins a secret. 

Jacob stiffened a little, eyes going a bit wide. “Someone tried to kill you? Are you okay, are you hurt?” 

“I’m fine.” Isaac assured him, touched at the sincerity. “It was a while ago.”

“I’m not trying to kill you, promise.” Jacob paused. “I’m pretty sure my boss isn’t either. And I’m pretty sure he’s never tried to have someone break into the academy before now. Because he’d have had me do it, so…” 

“Okay.”

“All I’m after is some stuff that the archmage has. I don’t even think I need to break into the Vault, which is good because I think that’s impossible even for me, and I’m pretty good at this. It’s nothing dangerous, or anything. I think it’s mostly politics? I don’t follow politics much actually but I’m pretty sure…did you say okay?” 

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, and he kissed Jacob again, quietly. “I trust you. I just had to make sure.”

“We’ve only met three times.” Jacob chided, but his tone was fond. “You shouldn’t trust someone you’ve only met three times.” 

“You trust me, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but you’re not dark and mysterious.” 

“How do you know?” Isaac challenged. 

“I know dark and mysterious when I see it.” Jacob nodded to himself. “You’re not that. You’re sort of…cuddly.” 

“Cuddly?”

“Shut up.” Jacob squirmed. “That’s not what I meant to say.”

“What did you mean to say?” Isaac asked with a bit of a giggle. 

“I think we should stop talking and kiss some more. You’re wasting my time with all this chatter and I’m too important for that.”

“Fair enough.” Isaac squeezed Jacob’s hand. “Plus I think I promised to put my hand down your pants.”

“Yeah, you should get better at keeping your promises.” Jacob paused for a second. “Um. Only if you want to, I mean. I’m not forcing you or anything.” 

“I know.” Isaac disengaged his hand from Jacob’s and let it wander downwards, where he started undoing Jacob’s belt with a little awkwardness. 

He got his hand inside and grabbed what he was looking for. Jacob hissed a little. “I bet you thought a lot about this.” Isaac muttered, giving him a stroke.

“Not…really.” Jacob tried, squirming. “Totally forgot all about it, actually. I get so many people offering to…oh, God.” 

“Well, in that case I guess we don’t have to.” Isaac said, making as if to pull back. 

“What, no, wait.” 

Isaac smiled. “You shouldn’t lie to the person with his hand in your pants, Jacob. Bad form.”

“S-sorry.” Jacob strained, and he sounded it. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, really. Too much, probably.” 

“I thought so.” Isaac leaned in and kissed Jacob again. “See, now don’t you feel better telling me the truth.” 

“God…”

“You’re confusing me with someone else.” Isaac wasn’t totally sure where he’d come up with this side of himself, but he was enjoying it. “Did you forget my name again, Jacob?” 

“No…” Jacob was getting wetter in Isaac’s hand, and he was starting to tense up. 

“Say my name, Jacob.”

“Isaac…” Jacob came in Isaac’s hand, making more of those mewling noises as he did. Isaac kissed him on the forehead as he did, and patted Jacob’s head with his free hand until he was through it. “You’re surprisingly sadistic.” 

“Are handjobs considered sadistic where you’re from?” Isaac asked with a smile and another kiss. “Still think I’m cuddly?” 

“Yes.” Jacob murmured, panting. “You made a mess in my pants.”

“The natural consequence of having my hand down there.” 

“I feel the need to retaliate.” 

“Consider me at your mercy, roguish intruder.” 

“Mercy is for cuddly people.” Jacob’s hand found its way downward, and he deftly undid Isaac’s pants and wormed his hand in there. Untying Isaac’s pants proved to be the deftest part, but it was clear as Jacob took hold of him and started working that he was trying very hard. His expression, what Isaac could make out of it, was focused, and the entire way he held himself laying there in the dirt betrayed his concentration. He kept his other hand on Isaac’s shoulder. 

Isaac was pretty sure that Jacob had never done this before, but he was doing a good job and after a minute Isaac felt himself starting to get there, and gripped Jacob’s arm as he did. “Jacob…” He whinged as he came. 

“Ha.” Jacob said as Isaac recovered. “I didn’t even need to force you to say my name.”

Isaac flashed his teeth. “I wouldn’t make it a contest if I were you.” 

Jacob withdrew his pants and made as if to move away, and Isaac moved into the gap and cuddled up against his side, clearly surprising Jacob a little. But Jacob settled in and put an arm around Isaac’s shoulder. “See? Cuddly.”

“Cuddling is nice.” Isaac retorted. 

“Yeah, it is.” Jacob admitted, sounding hesitant. “Um. Was it good? I mean…”

“It was good.” Isaac interrupted, Jacob a kiss on the cheek. “You did a good job.”

“Of course I did.” Jacob scoffed, but then he demurred a little. “It was good when you did it too.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.” 

That hung in the air a moment. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s fun.” The silence went on for another second. “It wouldn’t be fair to not tell you.” 

“So, you, um. With other people?”

“Yeah.” 

Jacob thought about that for a second. “Okay. Monogamy’s not all it’s cracked up to be anyway.” 

“That’s what I think too.”

“But…I’m your favourite, right?”

Isaac smiled. “My favourite thief.”

“Fine.” Jacob frowned down at him. “I’ll accept that for now. But I’m going to keep going until you admit I’m the best out of everyone.”

“What if I never do?”

“Then I’ll just keep trying forever, I guess.” 

“Aw.” Isaac kissed him again. “I like you too, Jacob.” 

“Good. You should. I’ve put a lot of work into getting you to like me.” 

They lay there for a while, looking up at the sky. “You didn’t need to put a lot of work into making me like you.” 

“Now you tell me.” Jacob grumbled, holding Isaac a little closer. “I wanted to, though. I’ve never really met anyone I really wanted to like me before. Not like that, anyway. I mean.” Jacob tensed a little. “I know we’ve only met a few times, and stuff. But I really…”

“I know.” Isaac nodded against Jacob’s shoulder. “I’m glad you tried to get me arrested that time.” 

“I’m glad you chased me.” Jacob seemed to be contemplating the stars. “Hey, Isaac?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll be back in three days.” 

Isaac lifted his head and looked at Jacob. “I thought you didn’t have a fixed schedule?” 

“I changed my mind.”

Smiling, Isaac leaned in for another kiss. “I’ll wait here for you.” 

“Good.” Jacob shifted as if uncomfortable, but he sounded happy. 

They lay there for quite a while, just watching the stars.


	23. It Only Takes a Moment to Upend Your Status Quo

Considering it supposedly wasn’t a big deal, Isaac reflected, a whole lot of people had come out to watch this exam. Lee had warned them that most of the academy’s faculty would be here and they clearly were, and there were a lot more of them than Isaac had assumed. The main auditorium was huge, and easily sat all of them, what Isaac took to be all of the mages at Oliver’s apprentice level and what looked like most if not all of the older students who were sitting in a group in the back. Cameron was there too, with her servant, sitting beside the wizened archmage, who looked to Isaac to be one of those old men who sort of just knew everything. He was sitting contemplatively in the front row. 

Yancy was also in the front row in an ostentatious white robe, and Diana was beside him in black. Elijah sat on Yancy’s other side, also in white, but it came off more demure to Isaac. Oliver was sitting back several rows with Christopher and Irene, and he waved at Isaac. Isaac waved back, trying to smile, and ignored the fact that Christopher returned that smile. 

For himself, Isaac had decided to wear the dressier shirt that his parents had made him pack, the only formal clothing he owned really, and formal only by virtue of having buttons at the collar and on the sleeves. He already hated having made that decision and was picking at the sleeves on the way in, but whatever. Nicholas was wearing a fancy shirt and even a nice coat and a little tie around his collar. 

Lee led them all into the room after assuring them again that there was nothing to be nervous about, but Isaac was nervous anyway and it made him feel a little sick. There were a _lot_ of people in here, and they were all going to be looking at him. He could already feel them looking at him, even now, no matter how much he rationalized that just as many if not more of them were looking at Nicholas. 

Lee sat them all down on one side of the open space at the front of the auditorium where Flora and Hugo were waiting. There was a set of empty chairs on the other side, where she’d told them they would move after having been tested. When they were all suitably seated, she nodded to them with one last smile and went to the centre of the room. “Good morning, everyone.” She said, and Isaac saw her use a thread of Dark, which must have been how she was amplifying her voice. The room steadily fell silent, everyone’s murmurings fading away into emptiness. “Thank you for coming. I will now conduct acumen testing for the new students. I ask you all to please remember your own academy days and the policy we have about silence during an examination.” She smiled, and there was a little laughter from the audience. She turned to the students. 

“To all of you, when I call your name, you will come to me and the other invigilators and demonstrate for us your ability to see the Pillars. Upon doing this, you’ll be given a marker to demonstrate your aptitude.” She gestured to a table behind her, where white, grey and black ribbons were laid out. “Please don’t worry, and remember that often people are found to be able to access another pillar long after the exam. You’re not being graded, and it’s not possible to fail this test. Take as much time as you need on your turn and when you’ve been assessed, you’ll come sit on the other side of the room here. Good luck.”

And that was all, and the exam was starting. Isaac held Peter’s hand between their chairs and Spencer’s in his own lap. Skip was tapping his foot on the ground beside Spencer, occasionally patting Spencer on the leg. Lee called their names and brought them each to the front of the room, one at a time. Aaron went first, followed by Andrew, and both of them ended up holding black ribbons when they went to sit down. Bianca went after them and was given black and grey. Isaac realized that they were being called in alphabetical order and relaxed just a little, knowing that he wasn’t going to be picked at random, at least. It did mean that out of his roommates, he’d be the first to go, though. 

Or not, as it turned out. “Casper,” Lee called, and Isaac frowned. He didn’t know who that was. 

Skip stood up, and Isaac couldn’t help but smile. _Casper?_ He mouthed. 

_Fuck you,_ Skip mouthed back, colouring a little as he made to approach Lee. 

“It’s cute,” Isaac whispered, and Skip skillfully kept his hand bearing the finger hidden from the audience. Isaac wondered why he’d kept it a secret.

Skip touched Light and Shadow and was handed his ribbons by a smiling Lee. So far every student had not only seen their Pillar or Pillars, but had demonstrated the ability to touch them as well. Isaac had been there when Skip had first touched Shadow last week. 

A few more names were called and Isaac was incredibly grateful when Harriet took a really long time in touching Dark, but eventually Lee said “Isaac,” and everything slowed just a bit. Spencer squeezed his hand and Peter gave him a pat on the back as he stood. Isaac stepped forward, with one quick glance at Nicholas as he did.

“Don’t worry so much,” Lee said quietly as he approached her, Flora and Hugo. “Just do your thing.” Isaac nodded, smiling nervously. “Let the Pillars manifest before you,” she said, loudly, as she had with everyone else. “And tell us what you see, Isaac.” 

Isaac glanced up into the crowd at Oliver, who looked just as nervous as Isaac felt. And he took a deep breath. The Pillars appeared before him, and Isaac reached out and put a hand around Light. “Light,” Flora announced. 

With a second hand, Isaac grabbed the second Pillar. “Shadow,” Hugo said, with a nod. 

Lee smiled at him. “Congratulations.”

“I’m not done,” Isaac said softly, and all three of them fell quiet, looking at each other and him. A quiet murmur went up in the crowd. Isaac’s heart was beating like thunder. He looked right at Yancy in the audience, who was watching him as if waiting, and Isaac reached out and grabbed the third Pillar. 

The murmuring that had gone through the crowd was nothing compared to the buzz that his action aroused. Yancy puffed right up in wonder, and was clearly doing everything in his power not to just start gloating. Oliver was grinning like a maniac and elbowing Christopher. “Dark,” Lee said, her voice cutting off the crowd. “Congratulations, Isaac.” 

“Just trying my hardest,” He said to her, and Lee, Flora and Hugo each took a ribbon off the table and handed them to him with something approaching reverence. Isaac just nodded and went to go sit down, shaking. He felt like throwing up. 

“Should have seen that coming,” Skip said, leaning forward from the second row to clap Isaac on the back. 

“Do you think it’s possible to die from too many people looking at you?” Isaac asked, feeling like he just might do that. None of the other students seemed sure of what to say to him. 

Jessica touched Light and Shadow at the same time, and Jillian touched Dark, and the list went on. Isaac tried to pay attention while simultaneously not passing out. It wasn’t over yet, and when Nicholas’s name was called, an unholy hush fell over the room. So many people in the audience were looking at Nicholas with pity, but Nicholas ignored them all.

Isaac watched him carefully. Nicholas didn’t look even half as nervous as Isaac had been. “Let the Pillars manifest before you, and tell us what you see, Nicholas.”

“Light,” Flora said, as Nicholas reached out and grabbed it.

“Shadow,” Hugo nodded a moment later. 

Lee started to congratulate Nicholas, but he smiled at her, and, looking at Isaac, reached out and touched the third Pillar as well. The murmuring came back, twice as much buzzing as before. “Dark,” Lee announced, and Isaac wasn’t sure anyone even heard. “Congratulations, Nicholas.” 

“What the fuck?” Skip muttered behind Isaac, but Isaac didn’t answer him. He watched Nicholas get his ribbons, watched him come over and sit, made eye contact with him for just a second. Elijah didn’t look surprised, and Yancy looked like he’d been hit by an ox, as did Diana. Oliver just looked worried, and Christopher was grinning up a storm and knuckling Oliver’s shoulder while Irene watched. Cameron and the archmage were sharing a look, but didn’t seem surprised. 

Lee took a breath before continuing. There were no O’s, so the next one up was Peter, who stumbled forward as if he’d just woken up from something. The murmuring was still going on, which Isaac thought vaguely wasn’t fair to Peter, though Peter himself didn’t seem to mind. 

Peter could touch Light and Shadow too, and so could Spencer, so Isaac wasn’t surprised when he did exactly that, just smiling a little as he did. But then Peter paused, hesitant, and didn’t accept the two ribbons offered to him. He was looking at the space in front of him, then at the ribbons, then at Lee, then at Isaac, then at his own hand. 

And Peter reached out and touched Dark. 

The murmuring stopped as if hitting a wall, and Isaac felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Nicholas visibly flinched in Isaac’s peripheral vision, and Isaac thought he saw Yancy stand up in sheer shock. Lee announced “Dark,” obviously unsure of what to say, but Isaac wasn’t looking at any of them. 

He was watching Peter, standing in the middle of the cavernous silence he’d created, holding the last Pillar. Peter looked at the Pillar, and he looked at Isaac, and he looked afraid.


	24. If You Say Something Enough Times, It Might Become True

The top floor of the main tower could be reached by means of a platform that levitated from the ground all the way up. All Isaac could think on the way up was that that was good, because he wasn’t sure that Peter could have climbed the twenty flights of stairs in the condition he was in. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Isaac promised him, gently patting his arm as they rode up. 

Peter just looked at him and nodded. He looked like he might cry, and that made Isaac’s chest hurt a little. 

Nicholas didn’t say anything, and neither did Lee. Immediately after the exam, the three of them had been asked to come out of the room and see the archmage at the top of the tower. They didn’t want any of them talking to anyone or doing anything before this could be sorted out, which Isaac both understood and was annoyed about. It wasn’t their fault; none of this was any of their fault. None of them had asked for this. 

But to be fair, Isaac had been overwhelmed by all the muttering and looks that had been directed their way. He’d never realized that groups of people could _buzz_ like that. Whatever was happening, he wanted it to be over. 

It seemed like a long trip but it wasn’t really, not compared to how it would have taken to climb. “Through here,” Lee told them, indicating a simple door on one side of the platform. She looked at all three of them, and smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay. None of you are in trouble. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

That was easy for her to say. But Isaac just nodded along with the other two and Lee opened the door for them, and Nicholas led them through. He was hungry, Isaac noticed distantly. They could have been allowed lunch, at least. 

The circular room into which they were led, Isaac noticed, was not nearly the width of the actual tower. Those double doors opposite the window must lead to another room. The room was crowded with bookshelves and maps, trinkets that all looked magical to Isaac. The floor was covered in a rug that showed the academy’s sigil. 

At the centre of the room sat a massive desk behind which the archmage sat, waiting for them. He must have run from the room after congratulating all the students in order to get here before them, and picturing him doing that made Isaac a little less nervous. “Come in, boys,” he said, voice strong. “Thank you, Lee.” 

Lee nodded and closed the door. With her on this side of it. The archmage just looked at her for a moment, then he smiled a little to himself and turned back to the three of them. “Please, sit.” There were three chairs set up in front of his desk, and with a looks at each other, they started towards them. Nicholas took the chair in the middle, forcing Isaac and Peter to either side of him. “I’m sure you’re not surprised to learn that there are a lot of people who want to ask you questions after the examination today. Especially you, Peter. But I wanted to intervene and have the three of you in here together first.” 

Peter was too upset to say anything and it was clear that Nicholas was just going to let him talk, so Isaac took it upon himself to ask, “Why?” 

The archmage turned his attention on Isaac, and Isaac was struck with the impression that he was older than he even looked. Which was saying quite a bit. Up close, he was a pointed, almost vulpine man with very thoughtful eyes. He was a regular person, Isaac reminded himself. He had to eat and sleep and go to the privy. “There are few things in the world I hate more than someone interfering with my academy, Isaac. That’s why. Everyone here has been waiting their entire life for the chosen one to appear, and it was frustrating enough to be suddenly presented with two candidates. Now that we have three, I can’t help but take it rather personally.” 

“Of course there are three,” Isaac muttered, sitting back a little and trying not to wilt under that look. A normal person. His name was Gregory. He looked like someone who liked cats. “There are three of everything here.” 

The archmage smiled a little. “Yes, I suppose there are. Nonetheless, I’m inclined to suspect sabotage. Now tell me, boys. How long have you all been able to touch all three Pillars like you did today?” 

Isaac and Nicholas shared a look. “About two weeks.” Nicholas admitted. “Isaac and I touched Dark together.” 

“And you, Peter.”

“Um.” Peter didn’t seem sure what to say. “I could touch Light and Shadow for a while now. Dark…I only saw Dark for the first time when Isaac touched it during the exam. I wasn’t sure if I was really seeing it or if it was my imagination, but then when Nicholas touched it I saw it again and I was sure. I shouldn’t have…” Peter shook his head. “I shouldn’t have touched it, I knew it was a mistake. I should have just pretended not to see it.”

“No,” the archmage said, speaking firmly now. “This is a school, young man. We don’t deny our knowledge, not ever. If you can touch three Pillars, you can touch three Pillars. It is for the rest of us to figure out what that means.”

“Clearly, it means that this isn’t a power limited to the chosen one,” Lee interjected. She hadn’t left her spot near the door. 

“Clearly.” The archmage flitted his eyes in Lee’s direction briefly before returning to the three of them. Isaac fidgeted a little in his chair, wishing they could be sitting on that sofa that was behind them. “And that’s marvelous, or it would be if we knew _why._ ” 

“You think that someone’s somehow given two of us this ability to confuse who the real chosen one is.” Peter said, and Isaac smiled to himself. He was so smart. 

“That’s exactly what I think.” The archmage leaned forward. “Now. Unfortunately, Peter, you are going to be subjected to rather a lot of questions from rather a lot of people. Isaac and Nicholas will doubtless tell you that you won’t find it very fun. Though I’m sure there will be more questions for them as well.”

“Oh, good,” Isaac sighed. Nicholas glared at him. Isaac didn’t care. He was looking past Nicholas to Peter, who just sat there and looked at the floor.

It was all Isaac could do not to leap out of his chair and hug him. 

The archmage cleared his throat. It was getting easier for Isaac to not be intimidated by him, though. He probably had a neatly organized sock drawer and liked to go birdwatching. “The point being that I am not here to interrogate the three of you. There are others who will do that. The reason I asked you all here is to tell you that I want you all to be careful. I am not in the habit of scaring my students, but in this case you need to all understand that you are potentially in a great deal of danger. Someone much more powerful than any of you is playing a game that is very dangerous and I can’t imagine any reason for it other than to hurt someone.”

“It’s not a game,” Nicholas said, when the archmage took a breath. “It’s not a game if lives are at stake, sir.”

“No, it isn’t, Nicholas. But it is seen that way by whoever this is. To them, you are all pieces on a game board. With that said, however, I have something to add. You are, all three of you, students at this academy. I will not allow any harm to come to any of you. As long as you are at my school, I promise to you that you are safe. I want you to be careful, but not to be scared. You may continue to live your lives. All of our resources are dedicated to sorting this out before any of you can come to harm. Everyone at this academy will work together to ensure your safety.”

“That isn’t true.” Isaac couldn’t not say it. Peter need to know too, and too bad for whoever got in trouble because Isaac knew something he shouldn’t. The archmage looked scandalized, but Isaac shook his head. “That’s just not true, sir, and I think you must know that.” Surely Yancy and Diana had told the archmage what they were investigating. 

“Isaac,” Lee said from the door. “There’s nobody in this academy who can hurt you. I promise…”

“Wraiths,” Isaac interrupted, watching the archmage, “breaking into the Vault last summer.” 

“Ah.” The archmage sighed, shaking his head. “I shan’t bother asking where you learned about that, young man.”

Isaac shrugged. “I wouldn’t have bothered answering anyway.” 

Isaac heard Peter laugh a little, and that made his heart a little lighter. “No, of course not.” The archmage smiled. “Yes, some wraiths were able to penetrate the academy last year, and yes, it’s most likely that they had inside assistance. What I imagine you don’t know is that the shielding around the academy has been doubled since that time.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that there’s someone dangerous inside the shield.” Lee sounded scandalized, and Isaac wondered why it was that nobody had told her. “Sir, you mean to say that there’s been a traitor in the academy this whole time and you said _nothing_ about it?” 

“Of course I said nothing about it,” the archmage said, a little anger entering his tone suddenly. “I won’t have fear spreading around the school. I won’t have paranoia and everyone wondering if they’re about to be attacked by a friend. And most importantly, I will not have whoever is responsible knowing that we are on the hunt for them. Cornered people do dangerous things, and I can’t risk making our enemy desperate and having them use the students as cover.” He looked away from Lee and back to the three of them. “In any case, I am here to assure you that you need not fear. We are handling this situation, and I don’t want the three of you deciding to take it upon yourselves to do anything dangerous, do you understand?”

Isaac nodded, and Peter did as well. But Nicholas said, “Have you considered the possibility that one of us is the one you’re looking for, though? It makes the most sense.”

“I have, and I’ve rejected it.” The archmage’s tone was final. “You are students at this school and I will not entertain the thought that any of you could be involved in such crimes. Now, it should go without saying that it is for the best that none of what was said in here be repeated by anyone, understood?”

They all three of them looked at each other, but all of them nodded. From the corner of his eye Isaac saw Lee nod as well. 

“Good.” The archmage nodded. “That’s all. You may head back down now and have some lunch. Try to enjoy your break as much as you can before the new semester starts in a few weeks. Soon you’ll be so immersed in your studies that you’ll scarcely have time to think on this.”

They stood. “Thank you,” Nicholas said to the archmage, and he nodded as the three of them went to the lift. 

Lee didn’t get in with them this time. “I’ll see you down there later,” ahe promised, once again trying to look reassuring. Isaac had a feeling that the Archmage was going to get yelled at, and he smiled assurance back at Lee. 

She shut the door behind them and the floor started moving downwards. Isaac sighed. Nicholas shook his head, looking up at the roof as it got farther and farther away. Peter just stood there, leaning on his cane. 

“Hey,” Isaac said to Peter. Peter looked up at him and Isaac hugged him, putting his arms under Peter’s and wrapping them firmly around his back, holding him close for a long minute. “You’re going to be okay.” 

“You sound so sure,” Peter muttered, hugging back. “So are you.” He sounded a lot less sure to Isaac, but Isaac couldn’t blame him. 

“I’m sorry,” he said to Peter, pulling back. 

“It’s not your fault.”

“Still.” Isaac sighed again, glanced at Nicholas. And hugged him too. 

“What, Isaac!” Nicholas squirmed a little, but he didn’t really try all that hard to get away.

“You’re going to be okay too,” he promised. “We’re all going to be okay. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.”

“It _is,_ ” Isaac insisted, and he stepped back from Nicholas now, looking away. “I’m not going to do nothing.” He said. “I’m not going to sit around and wait for the problem to solve itself.”

“What are you going to do?” Peter asked him, tapping his cane on the floor. 

“I don’t know. Something.” 

“You’re an idiot,” Nicholas muttered.

“Maybe, but I’m going to do something. I hate sitting around letting other people decide my future for me. Someone thinks we’re pieces on their goddamned game board. Doesn’t that make you angry?” 

Nicholas looked at him for a minute, then looked away. “Yes,” he admitted. “It does.”

“Me too,” Peter agreed. “I feel weird. Like I’m intruding on your guys’ thing.”

“It’s your thing too now,” Isaac told him, taking Peter’s free hand. “It’s all of our thing now. We’re in it together.” He looked meaningfully at Nicholas, who eventually nodded. 

“Thanks, Isaac.” 

Isaac smiled at him. Peter didn’t deserve this. None of them did, but Peter especially didn’t. “The first order of business for the togetherness club is to get lunch without getting swarmed by everyone we know.”

“The cane is pretty good for hitting people’s shins with when they won’t move out of my way,” Peter told him. Nicholas snorted with sudden laughter. 

“See?” Isaac said, smiling at him now. “That wasn’t so hard.”

Nicholas sighed, shook his head. He was still smiling. “Okay. I guess as far as this goes, you two aren’t the worst people to be stuck with.”

“Look, Peter. He likes us.” 

“Let’s not get crazy.”

The lift came to a sudden halt and all of them staggered just a bit. In front of them was the door, and Nicholas reached out to open it. “Let’s go.” 

“Yeah.” Peter made to follow after him, but Isaac grabbed his arm, holding him back for a second.

“Hey, Peter,” Isaac said, and he leaned in, kissed Peter on the cheek. Or would have, had Peter not turned his head and placed the kiss right on his nose. Isaac pulled away, laughing. “It’s going to be okay. Promise.”

“I believe you,” Peter said, smiling. He squeezed Isaac’s hand and they went together to face the onslaught.


	25. Make a Friend Who Will Give You Life Advice and Help You Buy Underwear in the Same Day

The market in Founder’s Square was crowded and loud, and Isaac was really not enjoying that very much. It had been nice at first, to be out of the academy, like breathing fresh air after being stuck indoors for a long time, but now it was starting to get even more stifling, and it made Isaac want to go back to the academy. 

Out here, he couldn’t help but remember every time someone jostled him from behind, there was no magical wall to protect him from whoever might want to kill a chosen one. 

“I didn’t realize that this was such a serious decision.” The best part of being out was that Oliver had taken him, so that was nice. 

“Sorry,” Isaac said, smiling up at Oliver. “I’ve never actually bought a razor before. I’ve always just borrowed them from my dad or my friends.”

Oliver patted him on the shoulder. “Buy a decent one; they last longer—and make sure to get some stuff to keep it sharp.”

“Uh, right.” Isaac picked a razor blade based on its nice handle, and the necessary things to go with it. He had already bought a cream at another stall to help with irritation—the one thing he’d known he needed going in. 

“Sorry,” Isaac said to Oliver after he’d paid and they’d moved away from the stall into the crowded concourse again. “You took time to take me out here and spent the whole afternoon watching me shop.” 

In addition to the razor, now safely bundled up in the bag Isaac had brought, he’d also bought a couple of new shirts since some of his were starting to fray at the sleeves. He’d bought some for Peter as well, who was having the same problem, and also a few new pairs of smallclothes since Peter was starting to lose those as well. 

Peter was going to be annoyed that Isaac had spent money on him. Isaac didn’t want Peter wandering around naked because his parents were assholes who didn’t give him money to live off of.

“It’s okay,” Oliver said. “I figured you’d need to do some shopping since you haven’t left the academy since you got here.” 

“Yeah.” At least he’d finally found a use for the money his parents insisted on sending him all the time. 

“I was thinking I’d take you out more often. Might be good for you. And we can spend time together. Uh.” Oliver looked nervous all of the sudden. “If you want.” 

“Of course.” Isaac gave him a bright smile. “Oliver, I really like spending time with you.”

“Me too.” Oliver nodded, looking around. “Anything else you need to buy?”

“Not really.” Not that Isaac knew of, anyway. “What about you? Don’t you have errands to run?”

“I was going to stop by the apothecary, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine.” Isaac let Oliver lead the way, and while that happened he looked around the square. There were more people here in this little area than there were in his entire home village. Under the huge statue of Queen Mona in the centre of the square, there was a tattered looking woman ranting at the top of her voice about the messiah coming, and Isaac could see some guards keeping an eye on her. A knight and his squire were on their way through the square, looking everywhere haughtily. The squire was kind of cute, Isaac thought, in a freckely way. Isaac wondered if anyone had ever tried to count all of those. He also wondered how far under his armour they went. 

“Isaac?”

Oliver’s voice pulled Isaac’s attention away from Sir Cutie. “Yeah?”

“You didn’t hear anything I just said, did you?”

“Uh…no.” Sheepish, Isaac tugged at the collar of his shirt. It was really hot. “Sorry. I got distracted.”

“Yeah, I saw him too.” There was teasing in Oliver’s tone. “He was just your type, right?”

“Well, he’s a boy, so yeah. Plus, he was all, you know, knightly, so…” Isaac cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you’re still you.” 

“What, you were worried I’d turn into someone else?”

“Anything is possible.” Oliver patted Isaac again. “I was asking how Peter was holding up with all the stuff at the exam before.”

“Oh, uh…” Isaac thought back to Peter. “He’s okay, mostly.” He was obviously worried, but Isaac thought he was dealing pretty well with everything that was happening. “He’s handling it a lot better than I did when they told me I was the chosen one, anyway.” 

“I expect it helps that he’s got you on his side.”

“I hope so.” Isaac nodded. He was trying to be supportive, even though he was just as scared as Peter. Though, in addition to that, Isaac was angry. The longer he had to think about it, the more and more… _pissed_ he got that someone had decided to pull poor Peter into all of this. 

Or maybe they hadn’t; maybe he and Nicholas had been the ones pulled into something that had secretly been about Peter the whole time. It was a frustrating mess to even try and work out in his head. 

“You like him.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Oliver pointed out a small apothecary that was housed in a proper building, and they ducked between food stalls to get to it. 

“I…” Isaac had kind of known that. “I asked him on a date. I told him I’d take him out somewhere to eat, but now neither of us is going to be allowed out of the academy without supervision.” 

“So set up a picnic in the academy instead.” Oliver suggested, pulling open the apothecary’s door and heading in.

Oh. That wasn’t a bad idea. “Do…do you think that’ll work?” he asked, following Oliver inside.

“Well, you know him better than I do. But, I’m guessing he said yes, and I’m guessing it was because he wanted to spend time with you, not because he wanted the food.” 

Isaac found himself colouring a little. It sounded obvious when put like _that._ “I guess. Yeah, okay. I’ll do that. Thanks, Oliver.” 

Oliver ruffled his hair. “It’s cute. Watching you try to actually date someone for once.”

Isaac was left to think about that for several minutes while Oliver talked to the apothecary and had her bring him out several tinctures and herbs. The shop was very cramped and smelled like plants. When he was finished, he paid and the two of them left together, out into the fresher air of the market.

“I don’t really know how to do it,” he admitted once they were outside. “Date people, I mean. It’s weird. I always saw people doing it and thought that was so strange. Like, I had friends and I had people I had sex with, and a lot of them were the same people, so I liked spending time with them outside of having sex, but this is different somehow? I mean, I want to see Peter and spend time with him, which we already do because we’re friends, but it’s not quite the same thing, I don’t know.”

“I get it,” Oliver promised, as they re-emerged from between the stalls to the concourse again. The tattered woman was now full-on shouting about salvation at anyone who would listen. “You have a crush on him.”

“Yeah,” Isaac admitted. That was what it was. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what it meant.

“Maybe you did change a little. I never thought you’d pick one person, honestly.” 

“I…” Isaac trailed off, bit his lip a little. “I didn’t. Um. There are…a few other people I feel that way about too.” 

Jacob, for one. And Spencer, a bit. 

And Oliver.

Oliver laughed. “Of course. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Just be careful, Isaac. Having a relationship isn’t the same as having sex. Make sure that they all know the score before you start anything with them, or else you’ll end up hurting someone’s feelings.” 

“I know.” Isaac nodded. That was why he’d made sure to tell Jacob before. He could talk to Peter. And figure out what it was that Spencer wanted in the first place. “I figured that much out. It’s just kind of…scary. That I might mess it up.”

“You won’t mess it up,” Oliver promised, gently pulling Isaac aside so some guy with a horse could get by. “You’re a nice person, and I know you’ll do everything you can to not hurt anyone.”

That didn’t mean Isaac _wouldn’t_ end up hurting someone, though. But he nodded. “Thanks, Oliver. Um. You’re one of the people. Who I like.”

Oliver looked down at him, clearly a little surprised. “Isaac.”

“I know,” Isaac interrupted, holding up his hand. “I know it’s, you know, inappropriate. And that you couldn’t do anything about it even if you wanted to, and that you probably don’t want to anyway. I just…it wouldn’t be fair, if I didn’t let you know.” 

“I had a feeling,” Oliver admitted, taking Isaac by the arm. “And, well, listen…”

“You don’t have to make me feel better, Oliver, it’s okay,” Isaac said, looking away. The preacher lady had fallen over and was now crying up to the heavens from the ground. “I get it.”

“I like you a lot too, Isaac,” Oliver finally said. “But, and I know you hate to hear this, but you’re younger than me. And I know that when we were on the way here, we did…a few things that we shouldn’t have, but that was something I shouldn’t have done.”

“I know.” Isaac kind of wished he’d never brought this up. It had been a nice kiss.

“It’s mostly just that you’re a student. So, here’s the thing—why don’t we put a pin in that one for now, and when you’re not a student anymore we’ll come back to it and see how we feel, okay?”

Isaac nodded. “Okay.” That was actually a lot better than he’d thought. And all it was doing was making him think of Christopher and all the things he shouldn’t have done. “Thanks, Oliver. Sorry for making it weird.”

“It’s only weird if we let it be. You’ve never had trouble being friends with people before, have you?”

“I guess not.”

“Good. Let’s do that, then. You’re important to me, and I’d hate it if we couldn’t stay friends.”

“Me too, Oliver,” Isaac admitted. 

“Alright, let’s go get something to eat. You haven’t told me what classes you plan to take yet.”

“I, uh…” Bringing that up totally distracted Isaac, but not in the good way that Sir Freckles had earlier. “Oh, God. Why’d you have to remind me that that’s a thing?”

“Having trouble deciding?”

That was saying something. He was supposed to take five subjects. There were only two that he both knew what they were and that didn’t sound terribly boring. “Help me pick. Because I swear I’m just going to close my eyes and point if someone doesn’t.”

Oliver laughed. “Sure. Let’s get food and we’ll talk about it, okay?”

“Thanks, Oliver.” 

Oliver paid for the food. It ended up being kind of like a date.


	26. There’s Nothing Quite Like a Nighttime Swim with Friends

Isaac could barely contain his excitement. He was practically ready to explode out of his clothes now and just take off running.

But he figured that since his clothes were going to come off soon anyway, he could be patient for a while longer. 

“I still think this should be a more regular thing than this.” 

“But Isaac, that would take away from how special it is,” Thomas told him, arm around Isaac’s shoulders as they walked through the dark. 

“I really don’t think that’s true,” Isaac protested, laughing a little. Thomas was heavy. “People being naked together is always special, Thomas.” 

“Yeah, yeah. And I’m going to say it again…”

“Don’t hit on anyone, I know.” Isaac rolled his eyes. He didn’t need to be told this. “Fun social gathering, not opportunity for Isaac to get laid.” 

He didn’t see why it couldn’t be both. 

“Not because I object.”

“You’d better not object, since your balls were on my chin half an hour ago,” Isaac interrupted.

“But because there’s no point in hanging out if you’re just going to sneak off with someone and ignore the rest of us,” Thomas bravely finished, visibly colouring in the moonlight. 

‘Yeah, whatever.” Isaac sighed, poked Thomas in the side. “I know how to not make things weird, Thomas. I’ve had friends before, unusual as that may sound. We used to swim together all the time.” 

“Alright, alright.” Thomas pointed. “Look, there we are.” 

Isaac nodded—he could see the lake, illuminated by several floating balls of light. There were already a bunch of guys there, splashing in the water. They were loud, as groups of people always were. “Who all’s going to be there?” he asked, curious. 

“I don’t know. Lots of people knew we were going to be here.” Thomas shrugged, glancing at Isaac now. “Why, hoping for someone in particular?” 

“No,” Isaac muttered, looking up at the moon. “Just curious.”

“You’re lying.” Thomas poked Isaac now. “I can’t tell you if you don’t tell me who it is.”

“I’ll see in a few minutes when we get there anyway.”

“It’s not like you to be shy, Isaac.”

“Oh, for—I just wondered if Garrett was going to be there,” Isaac admitted. He liked Garrett. He happened to know that Garrett was going to be in two of his classes when they started soon. That was exciting. 

Thomas laughed at him. “I knew you had a crush on him.”

“What’s the name of that girl you like?” Isaac asked, nonchalant. Thomas wasn’t wrong. “Milly? She’s pretty.” In a girly sort of way. 

“Okay, that’s a low blow, Isaac,” Thomas grumbled. “Teasing is only fun when it’s directed at you.”

“I keep meaning to become better friends with some of the girls, you know.” 

“Okay, okay. I’m not going to say anything to him, Isaac, God.” Thomas broke away from Isaac as they approached the water. He was blushing again. “You remind me of my little brother.” 

Isaac smiled at him. “That’s not something I’m used to hearing from people I have sex with.”

“Not—not like that, dumbass.” Thomas sounded frustrated, but he laughed. “You’re just…whatever, just take off your clothes.”

“You’re very romantic, you know.”

“You know what, you little shit?” Thomas grinned, held out a hand. He touched Dark and Isaac found himself lifted from the ground, the hem of his shirt lifting. “You need to learn some respect.”

“Okay, well, first, undressing me isn’t a punishment,” Isaac said, watching what Thomas was doing with the Pillar very carefully. He was touching Dark pretty close to what Isaac thought of as the top of the Pillar, tugging at the whole length of it with two fingers.

“Who said I was punishing you?” Thomas asked, and Isaac’s shirt was over his head, flying off somewhere. Some people in the lake were watching now. 

“Second, everyone thinks you’re being mean to me.”

“He’s being a shithead, I promise,” Thomas called out, undoing Isaac’s pants and knocking them down, taking Isaac’s shoes as he did. The Pillars ran through everything, so Isaac guessed he must be using tugging on Dark to manipulate all the things it was touching. Huh. 

“Third, I already respect you a lot.”

“Too late for flattery.” Thomas yanked Isaac’s smallclothes—worn for the occasion—down and then gestured, and Isaac gently floated backwards and was unceremoniously dunked in the lake.

It was really nice, actually. The cool water was the perfect temperature for the heat. Isaac came up, rubbing water from his eyes, listening to the laughter of the other boys. He could see some of them now, at least. A lot of Thomas’s friends, a few of his. He looked up at Thomas, raised a hand. “Fourth,” he said, touching Dark the same way Thomas had, “I learn really fast, actually.” And he did what he’d seen Thomas do, manipulating the power in the Pillar to make it lift Thomas off the ground. He went for Thomas’s pants first. 

“Oh, fuck you,” Thomas muttered, though he was laughing.

“Didn’t we just finish talking about that?” Isaac asked, smiling triumphantly as Thomas’s pants came down. He took the smallclothes next, then his shoes, and the shirt last, pausing for just a moment to examine his handiwork. 

“Just get on with it,” Thomas said, sounding impatient.

“Fine.” This was actually surprisingly difficult; it was making Isaac’s arm tired. He pulled Thomas towards him, and he moved more quickly than Isaac intended, flying forward and into the water with a splash. 

The others all laughed, but Isaac felt kind of bad. Thomas had been gentle with him. He swam over to where Thomas was surfacing. “Sorry,” he said, sheepish.

“It’s fine,” Thomas laughed, shoving Isaac a little. “It takes practice. It’s what I get for not showing you how to do it like I promised.” He offered a fist. “Square.”

“Sure.” Isaac bumped it.

“Anyway, skinny dipping isn’t Garrett’s thing—you want time with him, ask him to study with you or something.”

Isaac nodded. “I can do that. Definitely going to need help with the studying.”

“Come on, Tom,” one of Thomas’s friends said, swimming over to them. He was a heavier boy named Colby. He was missing a tooth, which Isaac thought was cute. “Stop hogging Isaac. The rest of us are here too.”

“I’m giving him dating advice.” Thomas smiled.

“Really?” Colby patted Isaac on the shoulder. “Sorry. Can’t look in Milly’s direction without tripping over his big toe. I wouldn’t listen to anything he says.” 

“Screw off.” Tom splashed Colby. 

“Besides.” Colby splashed back, grinning. “I can’t imagine you need help, do you, Isaac?”

“Are you serious?” Isaac had never been with Colby—yet. “Dating is like—it’s impossible. I don’t know how it works at all.”

“You serious?”

“Colby, how do I make boys like me?” Isaac may have been playing up his serious tone a little, but at least Colby started laughing before he did. 

“Thomas, you’ve done a terrible job with the chosen one. Come on, Isaac, you can soak up the collective romantic wisdom of the older generation.” 

As Colby dragged Isaac away, Thomas called out, “You’re afraid of girls, Colby!”

Colby shot the finger over his shoulder. “Good thing Isaac didn’t ask for help with girls, then, Tom!”

Isaac hadn’t expected skinny dipping to turn into an advice session for how to date Peter (and maybe Garrett and a few others), but that was what happened for a while after that, with various guys giving Isaac wildly differing and usually conflicting pieces of advice that seemed designed more to make him look like an idiot than anything else (singing a romantic ballad in public seemed like a good way to make sure nobody ever wanted to be seen with him again). But that was fine, Isaac got to know a lot of them better while that was happening. 

Harry’s family rented riverboats on the Saint’s River in the west, and Jackie was a prodigy who’s been able to touch the Pillars since he’d been eight. Vinnie had been born a slave in the north and had been freed so he could come to the academy. Chester and Ezekiel had been found by Yancy just like Isaac, and Ezekiel did a really good impersonation of him. Hemi was from a little tiny island in the tropics and often floated in his sleep, much to the amusement of his roommates. Neil’s great granduncle was the High Presbyter. 

It was fun, learning about them all. Meeting them all. People, Isaac was coming to learn, were universally interesting. Someone didn’t need to be a chosen one to have a story worth telling. It was a nice thing to be reminded of. 

The conversation had long since turned to regular chatter again when Isaac was tugged at again. He looked over and saw Andrew, encouraging him to come away a bit from everyone else. “Hey.”

“Hey, how are you?” Andrew asked, smiling as Isaac went with him. 

“Good, you?”

“Fine, you know. Aaron thinks he got bigger again.”

Isaac grinned. “You guys want me to measure again for you?” That had been fun.

Andrew smiled back. “Well, I’m not going to say no. But you know, later.”

“Yeah. You know where I am.”

They were off far enough that nobody would be able to hear them now. Even Aaron was off with Colby and Quentin, telling some elaborate story that involved a lot of hand waving. He glanced over at them as Isaac saw that, though. 

“Nicholas wanted me to ask you how Peter’s doing.”

Isaac nodded, smiling a little. He’d invited Peter. Peter had laughed at him. “He’s doing okay. He, uh, you know. He’s shaken by it. But he’s really resilient.” Peter spent a fair bit of time sitting there lost in thought, but Isaac tried to make sure he didn’t spend too much time worrying. “He’ll be okay.”

“Okay. Take care of him.” Andrew smiled. “That was from me. We’re all a little worried about him—about all three of you.”

“I know. Sorry.” 

“Don’t be.”

“We’re making your entire time at the academy all about us,” Isaac told him, shrugging. “All anyone’s going to want to know when you’re older—weren’t you in that cohort with all the chosen ones?”

“Well, that’s a more interesting question than ‘aren’t you one of Arthur’s boys? Which one are you again?’” 

Isaac laughed. “I guess. I have a feeling you’ll get tired of hearing it, though.”

“Maybe, but listen, Isaac…” Andrew looked back over at the rest of the boys, having fun. “We all know something’s up. You guys can’t tell us about it, that’s fine. But all of us know that this isn’t okay. We’re all on your side—all three of your side, I mean. We’re all your friends.”

That made Isaac warm in his belly and he felt himself go a little soft. “Thanks, Andrew. I really appreciate that. I’ll tell Peter too.”

“Do that.” Andrew took Isaac’s hand for a second, squeezed it. “I should go over there. Aaron’s about to get to the part of the story where I accidentally drank three bottles of wine, and he always gets it wrong.”

“Hold on, I want to hear that story.”

“It’s all lies anyway.” 

“Sure it is,” Isaac told him, and he followed Andrew over to the group. Thomas joined them as they swam.

“Having fun?”

“Yeah.” Isaac touched Thomas’s arm. “Thanks. For inviting me, Thomas.”

“Of course I invited you. Maybe we’ll try to do this again before it starts cooling off.” 

Isaac couldn’t imagine a future where it wasn’t way too hot to think all the damn time. “That’d would be fun. I’ll talk Peter into coming.” And maybe Skip. Spencer would be a no-go, he knew. 

“I might be able to blackmail Garrett into it too, but he’ll keep his clothes on.”

“That’s fine. It’s fun, even without the nudity.” The nudity was a nice plus, he had to admit. He was keeping it compartmentalized, but Isaac had been making a lot of mental notes and a detailed wish list as well. 

“Only you,” Thomas muttered, ruffling Isaac’s hair.

Isaac shrugged, and they rejoined the rest of their friends. That night Isaac ended up sleeping in his own bed, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way.


	27. Nobody Really Knows What They're Doing Anyway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isaac attempts dating.

“Isaac, you know how I feel about being taken to places unknown when you won’t tell me why.” 

“It’s called a surprise for a reason, Peter.” Isaac smiled, moving forward towards the tree that he’d picked out. For all his griping, Peter was still coming with him. 

“This surprise is going to make us late for supper.” Peter sighed, shaking his head. “If this is something stupid I’m going to break your knees.” 

Ouch. Isaac was pretty sure Peter wouldn’t do that. Pretty sure. “You’re going to like it.” He wasn’t sure what he would do if Peter didn’t like it. Maybe Peter hated picnics, or eating outside, or maybe he’d changed his mind about all of this, or maybe…Isaac couldn’t make himself not run through all the possibilities as he guided Peter to where he wanted. “Okay, hold on,” Isaac said, reaching out and taking Peter’s hand. “Close your eyes.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Come on, Peter, indulge me for two minutes, we’re almost there.”

“Fine, fine.” Peter closed his eyes and let Isaac guide him the rest of the way, to the base of the tree where he’d laid out a blanket and some covered dishes of food that he’d convinced the people in the kitchen to give him. The kitchen people were surprisingly nice, as it turned out. 

There were some squirrels sitting on the blanket, poking at the dishes, and Isaac quietly leaned down and shooed them away. “Okay.” He stood, up, looking the blanket over one more time to make sure it was right, and then looking at Peter. “You can look now.”

Peter did, taking in the sight before him, blinking at it and looking at Isaac, then down at the blanket again. “A picnic?”

“Yeah.” Isaac wasn’t sure what else to say.

“You put all this together?”

Isaac nodded, looking away a little. He was still holding Peter’s hand. “I know I promised to take you out somewhere to eat. But I talked to Oliver and they’re not going to let us leave the academy for a while,. I didn’t want to make you wait any longer, so…”

Peter was smiling, and he squeezed Isaac’s hand. “It’s really nice, Isaac. Thanks.” 

“You really like it?”

“Yeah, I do.” Peter let go of Isaac’s hand and made his way to the blanket, navigating around the dishes to sit down.

Isaac sighed a little in relief, sitting beside Peter and smiling. “Good.”

“You were worried?”

Isaac nodded, and Peter shook his head. “Even if I didn’t like picnics, I can see you went to a lot of trouble for me. It was really thoughtful.”

Isaac hadn’t been trying to be thoughtful. He’d just been trying to do what he’d said he was going to do. “We should eat before the squirrels come back and steal everything.” Isaac busied himself getting a plate for Peter and pointing out the dishes and what was in them. 

When they had filled plates and were eating, Isaac asked, “How are you doing?”

Peter smiled at him. “You’ve asked me that every day since the exam.”

“I’ve been worried about you every day since the exam.” Isaac took a breath. “And I’ve asked you in our room, and in the lunch room and in other places where people could overhear. And I know what it’s like to feel like you have to say you’re okay because otherwise people give you those looks and…”

“Yeah.” Peter looked away, hand on his leg. “I’m used to those.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Peter picked up some bread, tore a piece off. “Turning it into some weird thing that you can’t talk about just makes it bigger in people’s minds. I was born with the funny leg. There’s something that’s supposed to be in my knee that never grew there. When I was six I decided I wasn’t going to use the cane and I fell down the stairs.” He tapped his forehead. “I used the cane without complaining after that.” 

“I always just kind of assumed you didn’t like to talk about it.” Isaac felt kind of bad.

Peter shrugged. “I don’t, when people want to make a thing out of it. But it’s not a big deal.” 

“Yeah, I guess it’s not.” Isaac had never thought it was in the time he’d known Peter, anyway. “When I was six I decided I was going to sleep in the kennel with the dogs. I got fleas.”

That got a chuckle out of Peter. “Six-year-olds do stupid shit.”

“Yeah, thank God we grew out of that.” 

“Anyway.” Peter nodded. “I’m okay. I’d say you don’t have to worry about me, but I know you will anyway.” 

“Of course I will.” Worrying about people was something Isaac had been doing more and more of since he’d come to the academy. 

“I mean…it’s weird, all of this. And it’s a bit scary. I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.” Peter paused, frowning at as squirrel. He ripped off another piece of bread and tossed it, and the squirrels ran after it. “I don’t like that someone’s using me to get to you.” 

“That might not be what’s happening.”

“It is.” Peter shook his head. “I’m not the chosen one, Isaac. We both know that, and I think Yancy and all of them do too.”

“Yeah, well.” Isaac shrugged. He wasn’t so sure. “That’s what I think about myself too. Nicholas is the only one who’s sure it’s him.”

Peter made a bit of a noise. “I think I’d be having a harder time if it weren’t for you. You’ve always handled all of this so well, it makes it easier because I know you’re there with me.”

Isaac snorted even as he felt all fuzzy at that. “I’m not handling it well at all. I’m so scared that something’s going to happen to you, when I think about it I can’t do anything else. And I’m so…I’m so _angry_ that is happening. I mean, who thinks they have the right to fuck around with us like this?”

“Yeah.” Peter spooned some food, watching Isaac carefully. “You know, I’m just as worried about you as you are about me.” 

“What?” Isaac looked up. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

“I know, but…what if you get hurt? You’re so angry about all of this and so determined to do something, and I’m just so worried that something’s going to happen to you. I don’t know what I would do, Isaac.”

That was how Isaac felt about Peter, too. “I’ll promise not to get hurt if you will.” 

“Promise.” 

“Promise,” Isaac repeated. Someday he’d make Nicholas promise the same thing, just for posterity. But even to himself he could admit that he was less worried about Nicholas than Peter—not that he wanted to see Nicholas hurt, but Peter mattered to him a lot more. “Anyway, I didn’t mean to make the whole time about this, I just…”

“It’s nice to be able to talk without anyone around,” Peter told him, smiling. “I appreciate it.”

“I’m glad. I wish I knew what I was doing.”

“You’re doing fine. Isaac?” 

“Yeah?” Isaac looked up. 

Peter leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. “Thanks.”

Isaac couldn’t think of any time in his life when he’d been happier. “Any time, Peter.”

Maybe dating wasn’t as hard as he’d thought it would be.


	28. The Unexpected Is often the Most Worrying Thing

Only at night was it really bearable to be outside for a long time in the current heat, and since it never stopped being stuffy inside the buildings. Four people in one room with only a small window was not a great experience on the breathing front. Isaac was sleeping by himself, it was so bad. Being right up against someone wasn’t a good idea. 

He walked aimlessly through the grounds of the academy, no destination in mind but keeping an eye out for Jacob, though his last visit he’d told Isaac he wouldn’t be able to come back for a week.

“It’s awfully brave of you to be out by yourself at night,” a voice said behind him, and Isaac jumped a little, turning to see Cameron approaching him from behind. How long had she been following him? 

“The academy is safe,” he told her, stopping to allow her to catch up with him. The younger woman who Isaac often saw with her wasn’t around.

“Are you sure about that?”

“I’m not going to hide in my room with a blanket over my head.” Isaac saw the way she was looking at him and stood a little straighter. “It’s too hot for that.”

Cameron laughed, putting her hand on Isaac’s arm and pulling him along with her. Isaac shivered a little, but resumed walking, unsure of what was going on. “I think so too. I’m not sure how anyone sleeps in this heat. You walk out here a lot.” It wasn’t a question.

“Have you seen our rooms in the dormitory? There’s no room to think in there.” Isaac smiled a little. “I’m not very good at thinking, but I try to do it now and then.”

Cameron snorted. “And what do you think about, young man?”

“Mostly how hot it is.”

Cameron laughed again, more quietly this time. “I do wish boys didn’t all feel the need to be so secretive,” she told him. “You all think you’re mysterious. I assure you, that’s not the case.”

Isaac looked at her, and Cameron looked back. And he was struck with the sudden thought that she must know about Jacob. How, he wasn’t sure, but Cameron seemed like the type of old lady who knew everything. He swallowed. “I’m not trying to be mysterious.”

“No doubt. That would be foolish when you’ve a wealth of older, more experienced people you could turn to for help for any number of problems.” 

One of whom was probably trying to kill Isaac. “I know.” 

“I wonder,” Cameron said, looking forward again. “You know, one could be forgiven for thinking you were up to something, skulking around here at night.”

She definitely knew about Jacob. If he outright denied it, Isaac knew she would know he was lying. “I guess they could be, yeah.”

“In my experience, anyway, people don’t make a habit of wandering about at night if they aren’t trying to get away with something.”

“You’re out here,” Isaac pointed out.

“Yes, but I’m old. If I want to get away with something, I’ll do it in broad daylight—nobody has time for subterfuge at my age, boy.”

Isaac was silent for a second after that. Then he burst out laughing, the ridiculousness of the comment reaching him. “I guess that’s fair.”

“I don’t have time to be fair, either.”

“I’ve been seeing a boy,” Isaac admitted. 

“Aha.” Cameron pointed at him. “The truth, at last. Not a student, this boy.”

“No.” Isaac looked away. “He’s harmless, though. I swear.”

Cameron considered him for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. You seem to have good judgement, so I’ll trust it.”

“Just like that?” That seemed awfully easy. 

“What, did you think I’d put you through three trials?” Cameron snorted again. “What do I care what you do in the bushes? I was your age a long time ago—we had sex back then too, you know.”

Isaac should have been mortified, but he just nodded. “Did you have cute boys too?”

“On occasion. I never had time for them.”

“Must have sucked.”

“Not particularly,” Cameron told him. “I’ve always been too busy.”

“Were you already friends with the archmage then? What was he like?”

“Gregory?” Cameron paused, looking at Isaac as if assessing him for something. “He was obnoxious. He was always certain that he was right about everything, which was made worse by the fact that he _was_ always right about everything. He was the most powerful magic practitioner any of us knew, and he knew it. Always thought he should be in charge of everything. I only put up with him because having him around was useful.”

Isaac blinked. That was a bit more than he’d been expecting. “And here I thought you were friends.”

“When you’re our age, friendship is mostly just that we’ve both outlived everyone else we knew so we have no choice.” 

“That’s depressing.”

“The world is depressing, Isaac.” 

Isaac wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. 

“You must be annoyed,” he said. “You came here to see a chosen one and you walked into this mess.”

Cameron shrugged, a motion that seemed to take her whole body. “At least it’s interesting. I was expecting to come here and find some miniature version of Gregory. I think the confusion has prevented that so far.” 

Isaac squashed the errant thought that Nicholas was kind of like that. He wasn’t that bad. “Why exactly are witches worried about the chosen one, anyway?”

“I think you know.”

Isaac did. “I wanted to hear you say it.”

Cameron smiled. “The Coven is concerned about what the chosen one represents. They sent me to make sure he’s not a psychopath.” 

“He’s not.”

“You say that as though you know who he is.”

“Well, I don’t.” Now Isaac shrugged. “But I know myself, and I know Peter and Nicholas. You’re fine either way.”

“You sound very sure.”

“I know my friends, ma’am,” Isaac told her. “You said earlier you trusted my judgement.” 

“That I did.” Cameron chuckled. “Very well, I shall trust it again. On the condition that you share it with me in the future—I’m curious to know your impressions of people, Isaac.”

“Why?”

“Because I suspect they are different than mine.” Cameron looked at him. “I’ll look forward to speaking with you after the banquet.”

Isaac nodded, before he realized he had no idea what she was talking about. “What banquet?”

“They haven’t told you yet?” The way Cameron said that told Isaac that she knew very well that they hadn’t told him yet. “The king’s putting on a banquet in a few weeks. He’s invited the archmage and several of the faculty—and expressed interest in the mysterious chosen one the academy’s been hiding all this time.” 

Isaac felt his stomach do a bit of a flip. “The…at the castle? They’re not going to make us go to that, are they?” And he’d thought having to do the acumen test in front of everyone in the auditorium had been stressful. 

“As far as I know, they are. Gregory’s been putting off showing off his chosen ones until he could get it sorted out, but I’m given to understand that this isn’t an invitation that can be refused.”

“Oh, God.” Isaac felt a little sick. “I…you came out here just to tell me that, didn’t you?”

Cameron patted Isaac on the shoulder. Isaac felt a tingling after her hand receded. “It’s not only schoolboys who are too secretive for their own good. You should head to bed, young man. It’s late, and I don’t think your nocturnal suitor is here this evening.”

“He isn’t,” Isaac muttered. “I was just out walking.”

Cameron nodded. “Off to bed, then.”

“Thank you.” Isaac wasn’t sure what else to say. Maybe he could get out of this. 

On the other hand, a huge party at the castle meant (hopefully) lots of young nobles. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe if he thought about it like that, he wouldn’t have to dread it.

He told himself that, and Isaac still spent a lot of time that night staring up at the bottom of Spencer’s bed.


	29. The Strangest People Will Comfort You When You’re Grieving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very sad, I'm sorry.

“You nervous to start classes?” Ariel asked him as she looked through the stack of mail for the letter Isaac had received from his parents.

Isaac smiled at her. “I want to throw up all the time. It’s awful.” He kept telling himself that it wasn’t going to be that bad, and that when classes did start in two days, he’d probably like them. But it didn’t help much. 

“Eh, it gets better.” Ariel smiled at him. “You’re taking Hugo’s history class, right?”

“Yes.” Isaac tried not to be wary that Ariel knew. He’d let Peter and Spencer talk him into taking that class with them, despite his reservations. 

“I’m assisting him in teaching it. Plus I’m his apprentice and everything, so if you ever need help, just let me know.” 

Isaac hadn’t known any of that, and he looked at Ariel for a moment and smiled. “Thank you. I expect I probably will.”

“Good. The smartest thing a person can do is ask for help when they need it. Here you go, news from home.” She plucked a letter out and handed it across the counter to him. 

“Thank you.” Isaac held it up in a salute and turned to go.

“You’re not going to write them back?”

Casting a glance around the oddly full mail room, Isaac shook his head. “I will tonight.”

“I see you then.”

“Thanks, Ariel.” 

“Try not to throw up on anyone I like, kid.”

Laughing to himself, Isaac left the mail room, letter in hand. He didn’t want to fall down the stairs, so he waited until he was up in the main entry hall before picking at the wax and opening it, looking down at the letter as he crossed the threshold to the grounds. Isaac figured he’d find a tree to read it under or something. 

He started reading as he walked, and the summer heat got colder and colder as he read more of it. He stopped walking and didn’t notice until someone spoke to him. “Excuse me, lad.”

Stricken and shaking a little, Isaac took a step the side, not able to look up from what was written there in the letter from his mother. 

“Isaac?” the voice asked him. “Is everything all right?”

Isaac looked up to see Yancy, arms full with a large cloth sack, looking down at him in concern. And he couldn’t help himself, tears gathering and falling down his cheeks. “What is it? What’s wrong, son?”

“My dog…my dogs died.” Just saying it made it real, made it worse, and Isaac closed his eyes as it threatened to overtake him, the letter crumpling in his hand. 

“My word,” Yancy said quietly. 

Isaac shook his head. Why did it have to be Yancy? Of everyone he could have run into right now. “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head, still crying. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t care. I’ll just, I’m going to go. I’ll be okay.” He wasn’t, he wasn’t going to be okay. 

Yancy put a hand on his shoulder. “Nonsense, Isaac. Come with me.” 

“I don’t want—”

“Come,” Yancy repeated, pressing on Isaac’s back to get him to walk back into the tower. Wiping at his eyes, Isaac looked up at Yancy. He’d transferred his bag to one arm and was looking down at Isaac with open concern on his face. 

With no idea what was going on and no capacity to resist anyway, Isaac did as he was told, letting Yancy usher him into the building and up the Light Stairs. They went up eleven flights and by the time they were up there, Isaac had gotten himself mostly under control, though he didn’t trust himself not to start crying again if someone tried to talk to him.

“In here.” Yancy waved his hand at a door and Isaac saw some Pillars move aside, and Yancy led Isaac into what must have been his study. It was full of scrolls on shelves and in piles on tables, maps on walls with pins in them, magical gadgets here and there that were spinning or clicking back and forth, all kinds of strange things made out of feathers. Yancy set the bag down on a chair, then remembered that Isaac was there and put it on the floor, gesturing for Isaac to sit. Isaac did, but only because he was tired from all the stairs. 

“I’ll put on a pot of tea,” Yancy declared, seeming a little out of sorts even though he was the one who’d brought Isaac here in the first place. He pulled a dented kettle from a shelf and set it on a strange metal grate, and then waved a hand and a fire appeared under the grate. Yancy took another chair and made to sit down.

“You…didn’t put any water in that,” Isaac couldn’t help but point out. 

“Ah. Curses.” Yancy waved a hand again, presumably magicking some water into the kettle. Then he sat. “Now, what’s happened, Isaac?”

“My…” Isaac looked down at the letter, crumpled up in his hand. “My family raises dogs. Which I guess you remember. They take in strays and litters of puppies and everything, and one came in a while ago and…he had distemper. They didn’t notice until a few days later. They had to put down over a dozen dogs.” This last was said in a gasp as Isaac started crying again, hugging himself. 

“I’m terribly sorry, Isaac,” Yancy rumbled. “You’re very close to the dogs, as I recall.”

Isaac nodded. He sniffed, tried to breathe. “Carrot and Sunshine and Beast and Extra, they were mine. I raised them. I named them. But Morning and Cirrus, Cabbage, Horseshoe, Bernie and Ralph, Chicken, Falcon, Dancer and Target.” Isaac didn’t need to read the letter again. The list was burned into his memory. His parents had known that he would want to know who had died. “I didn’t name them but they…I still watched them all grow up. I love them.” Isaac looked up at Yancy, vision blurred. “I know. I know that sounds stupid. I know they’re dogs. But I love them. And they died, and I wasn’t there.” Isaac felt like he’d lost half his family. 

“That doesn’t sound stupid at all, Isaac.” Yancy put his hand on Isaac’s knee. “That’s a terrible loss to endure, especially when you’re so far away. It makes one feel very helpless.”

Isaac nodded, still sniffing. “There’s nothing I could have done, even if I was there. But I just…” He didn’t know. He didn’t know how to handle this. “I’ve had dogs die before, it’s not like it doesn’t happen. But it’s just so many of them at once.” He put his head down, in his hands. “My parents must be devastated.”

The kettle whistled and Yancy got up, pouring the boiling water into a kettle and putting in some tea leaves. He left it there on the table to steep and came back to sit in front of Isaac again. “I’m sorry,” Isaac said, voice hitching. “For wasting your time with all this. You’re busy, and…”

“It’s not a waste of time, Isaac.” Yancy’s voice sounded less gruff than usual. “To try and help someone who is upset. Perhaps you’d have preferred to go see one of your friends, or maybe Oliver, but you strike me as the sort who wouldn’t want them to worry about you, and I don’t think that grief is something that should be tempered to avoid upsetting others. If you must cry, then cry for as long as you need to.”

“Thank you.” Isaac’s eyes filled up again as Yancy spoke. “I’m sorry I was such a jerk to you. You’re not that bad.” 

“Think nothing of that,” Yancy said. “I know you and I haven’t had the best relationship—something for which I admit fault as well—but I do care about you a great deal. I want you to know that you are always welcome to come up here and talk to me if you need to.”

“Thank you,” Isaac said again. He couldn’t imagine any problem that he’d ever want to come to Yancy with, but then, half an hour ago he wouldn’t have been able to imagine this situation. “I’m sorry I’m not the chosen one you wanted.”

“Of course you are, Isaac,” Yancy said quietly, reaching out to tilt Isaac’s chin up, meeting his eyes. “You’re strong-willed and intelligent and kind. What else could I possibly have wanted?”

Yancy had always seemed like a lot of things to Isaac. He’d seemed gruff, and pompous and mean, crusty and boring, most of the time silly, usually arrogant. Isaac had never seen him look so kindly before. He started crying all over again, and this time he wasn’t really sure why.

He’d just realized that Yancy had been calling him by name this whole time. 

Yancy got up, came back a moment later with some tea cups. He pressed one into Isaac’s hands and sat one more time. “I’ve some sugar if you want.”

Isaac nodded, and let Yancy spoon some into the cup for him. He sipped at the tea. Isaac didn’t like tea. But it helped, a little. “Would it help you to talk about them? The dogs who passed away?” Yancy asked. “You needn’t if you don’t want to, but if you do, I can listen.” 

Isaac looked up, opening his mouth to say that was okay, he didn’t want to waste Yancy’s time telling him about dogs he’d never met, but to thank him for asking. “I delivered Carrot when she was born,” he said instead. “I was afraid I was going to drop her. I was seven. I was there for the rest of the litter too but I couldn’t take my eyes off Carrot. She was always the first one in the litter to come see me when I went out to the yard, and she and Cabbage and their brother Turnip slept in my bed for a year when I was eight. I had to make them stop when they got too big and I couldn’t fit anymore. I’m not sure if they ever forgave me.”

Isaac kept talking, rocking back and forth a little as he just said everything that he could remember about all of them. He had to stop several times to stop crying again, but Yancy never interrupted him or tried to make him stop. He just sat there and listened the whole time.

Isaac couldn’t remember ever being so grateful for someone’s presence.


	30. The First Day of Classes Is Never as Bad as You Think it Will Be

Building Three was named after some long-dead mage, but nobody seemed to care or ever call it that. Which was fine with Isaac, because it was one less thing he had to remember. He had his schedule written down on a scrap of paper in his hand, and was looking at the room numbers as he went, feeling tired. He’d had two classes already and had three more today. It hadn’t occurred to him how tiring that was going to be. At least after this he had a break before lunch. 

“Hey, you.” 

Isaac looked up from his schedule to see Garret coming up beside him in the hallway, smiling. He’d cut his pale hair, probably because it had been starting to curl, which Isaac thought was a bit disappointing, even though he was still way too cute even with his resting glare. He patted Isaac on the small of the back as he approached. “Hi, Garret.” 

“How’s your first day going?” Garret asked, falling into step with Isaac. 

“It’s okay.” Isaac shrugged. Nothing had happened except that he’d been given a lot of schedules and a long list of things to read. “Well, you were there for part of it.” Isaac’s first class was the history class that Ariel was assisting in. His second had been a plant lore class that he’d thought looked fun, which he shared with Garret, who had been busy talking to some friends after the class, so Isaac hadn’t approached him. “How is your day so far?”

“Audry’s class was my first one. I hear she’s crazy, but it looks cool. I was glad to see you there. And you’re in Lee’s class too, right? Mental magic?”

“Yeah, that’s where I’m going.” It was a few minutes yet before he had to be there, but Isaac didn’t see any point in waiting around outside. 

“Me too. Room…” Garret consulted his own schedule. “Three hundred six. It’s around the corner here, follow me.” 

“Thanks.”

“You must have the big two in the afternoon, then. Practical and Development, right?”

Isaac nodded. Everyone in his cohort had to take Practical Applications of Magic and The Development of Magic, which were separated by a half-hour break. Practical was being taught by Diana, which Isaac was looking forward to, and Elena was teaching Development. 

“Practical’s fun.” Garret informed him as they rounded the corner. “Teaches you how to, you know, actually do magic. It’s pretty much impossible to fail unless you can’t do that. Development is really boring.”

“Really?” Isaac sighed. It had sounded pretty boring to him. 

“Sorry. It’s all about the history of the Pillars and how they work and how they’re different from other types of magic and how they’re different from each other.” He rolled his eyes, but then he snickered. “At least you didn’t take it last year with us—Yancy taught it.”

Isaac thought about that, and tried to picturing having to sit there and listen to Yancy tell him about how the Pillars were different from one another, and he shuddered a little. “Oh, God.”

“Yeah, it was bad. I’m not sure he knows how to say anything without pontificating.” 

“He does,” Isaac said without meaning to, thinking back to the other day in his study. Yancy hadn’t pontificated at all then. “He’s actually really nice.”

Garret looked at Isaac for a second. “Well, I think you’re the first person who’s ever said that,” he said, patting Isaac on the shoulder. They stopped outside a door with the number they were looking for painted on it. “Are you okay, Isaac?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Isaac nodded, making himself smile up at Garret, reminding himself that he’d been looking forward to having classes with him. 

“You’ve been looking a little down, is all.”

“It’s…”

“I heard about your dogs,” Garret interrupted, looking concerned. “From Thomas.”

Isaac looked away, willing his eyes to stop watering as he pictured them all over again. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.”

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck now, though,” Garret said, smiling a little. “My cat died my first week here, before they’d even finished assessing me for potential.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay now. But it sucked so hard at the time, being away and having that happen. Knowing it gets better doesn’t make it better now.”

Isaac nodded, because Garret was right. “Thanks, Garret.” 

“Sure. I didn’t mean to make you upset, just wanted to say that if you ever want to talk, you know where my room is. And we have these two classes—maybe we should study together.”

“That’d be great.” Isaac nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Me too. Thomas told me you were looking forward to getting to see me.”

“He…” Isaac coloured a little, reached for the door. “Thomas needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.”

Maybe Isaac really would go become friends with Milly. She was in the plant class too. 

“He does,” Garret agreed. “Once I forgot what frogs were for two seconds and he told an entire classroom about it the next morning, and I had to put up with weeks of everyone telling me so patiently what random animals were just in case I’d forgotten.”

Isaac couldn’t help himself, he giggled a little. “You forgot what frogs were?”

“For two seconds,” Garret emphasized, face a blotchy red that was already fading. “Anyway. In this case it’s fine. I was looking forward to seeing you too. You’re cool.”

“Thanks,” Isaac muttered, taking a deep breath. “So are you.”

“This is going to be a fun class, I think.”

“Me too.”

“Assuming you actually open the door instead of holding it like that.”

“Oh.” Isaac cleared his throat, pushed the door open. “Sorry.” 

Garret just smiled. “Sit with me?”

“Sure.” 

They went into together, Isaac trying to compose himself, to find Lee standing at the long table at the front of the room, scribbling something in her notes. She looked up at smiled at Isaac. “I was pleased when I saw your name on the registry,” she told him. 

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Isaac answered, looking into the classroom. There were a few people already sitting. Aaron and Andrew were in the back, and Nicholas was there in the front of the room. He nodded at Isaac, who gave a half-wave of acknowledgement. Bianca was sitting beside him. Peter was in this class too, but he wasn’t here yet. 

“I hope not. I have a pretty strict attendance policy. Best make a habit out of being early.”

“I’ll do my best.” 

Lee nodded and went back to her notes, and Isaac took a seat beside Garret in the second row, setting his own fold of paper on the desk. Garret was looking at him. “You know her?” he asked quietly. 

“Who, Lee?” Isaac looked up at her, then at him. “Yeah. She taught the meditation class.”

“Wow.” Garret cast a quick glance at Lee. “She has a reputation for being a bit…terrifying.”

“Really?” Isaac smiled. He could picture that, honestly. “She’s really nice.”

“I’m starting to think you say that about everyone.” Garret laughed a little, shook his head. “Hey, Isaac?”

“Yeah?”

“How’s your first day of classes going?”

Isaac looked at Garret, and smiled a little. “It’s gotten a lot better.”


	31. Foreplay Is Different with Each Person and Each Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Way too much of this chapter was written in an airport, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

“I reserve the right to change my mind about this.” 

“Obviously.” Isaac looked over at Peter, sitting there shirtless on the bench. Isaac was standing, trying to get a knot of the laces on his shorts. “I wasn’t planning on pinning you to the ground and shaving you by force.” 

“I hope not. If you were going to pin me to the ground in the bathing room, I’d hope you’d do something more interesting with it.” 

Isaac laughed a little, getting some traction on the knot and letting it loose. “You know, I thought you were shy when we met.”

“Not shy,” Peter said, easing his own shorts down. The bulge in his smallclothes was just noticeable. “Just grumpy.”

“And cute,” Isaac told him, letting his shorts drop to the floor and kicking them up into his basket with a foot as Peter folded his own. 

“Do you ever wear smallclothes?” Peter grumped, rather than addressing that. 

“Sometimes, to sleep in.” Isaac grinned, standing there, not making any secret of watching Peter expectantly. “I don’t much see the point.”

Peter gave a snort, slid his smallclothes off all at once and folded them as well. “I don’t know why I put up with you,” he said, pushing himself up to stand, and taking Isaac’s arm when he offered it. The floor in the bath room was too slippery for his cane. 

“My charm,” Isaac suggested, as they made their way into the long room. “My sense of humour and good looks, my joyful spirit and caring nature, and…”

“Your modesty,” Peter added, looking around the room. It was empty but for Chester, who was rinsing himself off under one of the chutes. He raised a hand in greeting when he saw them, and Isaac waved. 

“He’s cute,” Peter said quietly, as they made their way down to the other end of the room. 

He was, Isaac thought. Chester had a way of standing that took up a lot of space, and a grin that took up his whole face. “He’s okay.”

“Just okay?” Peter bumped Isaac’s shoulder as they sat down on the bench, and Isaac set the little basket with the razor and other supplies in between them and got up again to go get water to wash with. 

Isaac shook his head as he went a filled a bucket. Chester passed by him on the way out. “Too bad you weren’t alone,” he muttered. Chester, like Isaac, preferred to bathe at night. He was always very considerate and offered to wash Isaac’s hair while Isaac blew him. 

“Maybe next time.” Isaac stood straight, giving him a smile. Chester patted his shoulder and left, and Isaac headed back to Peter, who just gave him a look. 

“We should wash first,” he said, setting the bucket down and reaching for some soap. 

“You’re the expert. You’re really going to pretend you aren’t in to him?”

“Chester?”

“Was there another naked guy in here just now?”

Isaac grinned, offered Peter a rag. “It’s kind of bad form to wax poetic about someone else while I’m on a date with you, isn’t it?”

Peter laughed a little, whipped some water from his rag at Isaac. “Not like I didn’t know what I was getting into with you.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” Isaac asked, making quick work of washing himself. 

Peter was quiet for a minute as he washed himself, waiting until he was finished with all but his hair before he answered. “I thought it would. But then I thought, well, it’s not because you don’t like me enough.”

“Not at all,” Isaac promised. 

“And even if I asked you to, I don’t think you’d be able to stay away from other people, would you?”

Isaac fell silent for a moment, lathering soap into his hair. “No. Sorry.” He liked Peter, he did. But Isaac didn’t think he was made to have that kind of life. 

“It’s okay. My parents are pretty traditional—well, they’re priests. I was always raised to believe I’d grow up, get married.” He paused, rolled his eyes. “Probably to a girl. Have kids. Go into the priesthood. I’ve been thinking a lot more about that and whether that’s really how everyone has to be. Meeting you taught me that not everyone has to have that kind of life. You seem perfectly happy.”

“I am.” Isaac shrugged. He wasn’t dancing in circles at the moment with the dogs hanging over him like this, but in general he wasn’t miserable. 

Peter patted his leg. “Plus, it would _piss_ my parents off if they found out I was seeing someone with no intention of marrying me.” 

“Who was also seeing other people?” Isaac personally wouldn’t do things to intentionally make his parents angry, but then his parents hadn’t disowned him, so he could see where Peter was coming from. 

“Exactly.” Peter shrugged. “I’ll have to make sure to tell them someday. Can I have one rule?”

“What is it?”

“I…” Peter took a breath. “I want you to tell me about your other people. Not, you know, the details, necessarily. Just that, I assume you’re taking this—me—seriously. It’s more than just sharing a handjob with Skip because you’re bored.” 

“It is,” Isaac promised. “I care about you a lot.” 

“When you have someone else you’re going to take seriously, I’d like to know who it is, at least. I care about you a lot too. I have the right to know who I’m sharing you with, I think.”

Isaac thought about that, and nodded. “That’s fair. I can do that. I…I know it’s hard, what I’m asking from you. And that it’s selfish.”

“It’s fine.” Peter grinned at him as soap ran down into his eyes. “Means when I’m busy and don’t want you to bother me, I can make you someone else’s problem.” 

“Grumpy,” Isaac laughed. 

“Damn right. Now let’s rinse off and do what we came here for, before I lose my nerve.” 

“Works for me.” Isaac stood, offered his hand to Peter. It took them a few minutes to get all the soap off, and when they got back to the bench, Peter reached into the basket and handed Isaac the razor with an almost shy smile. 

“You first.” 

“Fair enough.” Isaac took it, and a jar of a creamy soap, which lathered a lot when he rubbed some onto his hands. “Makes it easier,” he told Peter, rubbing some onto his face to start, figuring he’d start with something Peter had seen before. 

Shaving wasn’t something that Isaac spent a lot of time thinking about, and even with Peter as an audience, it was a pretty methodical process as he did his face, his arms, chest and underarms, and his legs. He used a second cream after the fact to further help with irritation, and when he was done putting that on his legs, he straightened, took the lathering soap again and smiled at Peter. “The main event.”

“Watch me quiver in anticipation.” Peter affected unconcern, but Isaac could see that he’d chubbed up a little, which Peter had to know. 

Very carefully and slowly, Isaac shaved his groin, between his legs, his scrotum more carefully still, and even bent over and did his backside. “I’d think you’d want a mirror for that.”

“Makes it easier.” Isaac admitted as he finished, dunking the razor in the bucket to clean it. “But I’ve got a lot of practice. I know where everything is.” He held up the razor, wiped it off, held out his arms and did a little turn for Peter, showing off. “How do I look?”

“Just like always, only balder.” 

“Ha.” Isaac snorted, sat down. “You ready? I have a second blade there so you don’t need to use this one.” 

“I’m not that worried about it.” Peter shrugged. “They say sharing is good.”

“So I hear, but I usually don’t use a razor on my face after I’ve used it on my balls.” Isaac shrugged. “But that’s just me.”

Peter laughed, flipping Isaac off with one hand and taking the second razor with the other. “And what are you planning to shave your face with if I use this one?” He used some of the lathering soap as he spoke, putting it on his cheek. 

“I have a third one in the room.”

Isaac had thought ahead on this one. 

“Of course you do.” Peter shook his head, went about doing his own face, which it didn’t really need. When he was done he took a breath, looking down at the blade, and handed it to Isaac. “Time to play barber.” 

Isaac smiled at him, took the blade carefully, and he gestured for Peter to hold out his arm. 

Peter sat perfectly still as Isaac put the lathering soap on him and then shaved him, letting Isaac manipulate his arm back and forth to get it clean, and even lift it up to get at his underarm. Isaac stood, moved to the other arm and did the same, a little fascinated despite himself that Peter was so…malleable. His skin was soft and he was a little fleshier than Isaac had expected, and even just running his hands up and down Peter’s skin to make sure he’d gotten all the hair was nicer than Isaac had expected it to be. Peter stayed quiet, just watching Isaac work.

When Isaac finished with Peter’s arms, he sat back a little, smiling. He was half-hard. Peter looked down at himself, ran a hand down the opposite arm. “So far, so good.” 

“One more thing.” Isaac held out the cream, but Peter just held out his arm expectantly, and Isaac got to rub it on.

“Next?”

Peter spread his arms, gave Isaac access to his chest, where there was very little hair anyway. Isaac spread the soap over him and took the razor to it carefully, keeping his spare hand on Peter’s skin as he worked. He started on the left and moved to the right, his hand coming up to rest on Peter’s left nipple as he did so. Peter didn’t stop him, and Isaac could feel his heartbeat. 

Isaac had to stand to reach properly, so he ended up right in front of Peter on the bench, in between his legs, leaning down to reach down his chest, down to the top of his bellybutton, where he stopped and stepped back. They made eye contact for a moment, Peter picked up the cream and gave it to Isaac. Slowly, Isaac rubbed in the cream, alternating between watching Peter’s chest and watching Peter’s face. 

“Legs?” he asked he was done, liking the way Peter glistened. 

Peter stretched one out, and Isaac crouched to reach it, starting at the top of the thigh. He slathered the first cream on, completely covering the leg. It was tempting to just move over a bit, to where Peter was slowly growing a full erection, but Isaac restrained himself even as he did too. He kept his hand on Peter’s leg as he shaved, running it up and down and this time mostly just because he wanted to and Peter was letting him. 

The position kind of necessitated getting in close so Isaac did, his breath hitting Peter’s damp leg. When it was completely smooth he reached out for the second cream, and this time he watched Peter’s face as he rubbed it on. Peter was looking down at him, rapt, and didn’t stop when Isaac shifted to lather up his other leg, moving so that his hand passed just over Peter’s erection without touching it. Isaac wanted to touch it more badly than he wanted to give his own some attention, but first things first.

He took the second leg more slowly than the first, methodical in getting it clear of cream and hair. Both of their breathing filled the air. Isaac had to do a lot more physical manipulation with this leg since it was the one Peter had a harder time moving, and making sure he wasn’t too rough took Isaac’s mind off of how hard he was for a few minutes. 

By the time he’d put the second cream on, Isaac was a little short of breath and when he looked up, Peter seemed to be as well. “How are you doing?”

“I’m still here, aren’t I?” Peter’s voice was half a whisper. 

“Should I keep going?” 

“Yeah.” Peter nodded down at Isaac, shifting, widening his legs so there was more room for Isaac. “You should. I hear it’s the main event.”

Isaac nodded and got the lathering cream. “Going to have to touch you.”

“I know.”

Isaac swallowed a little, letting out a breath that hit Peter’s erection, and he slowly applied the cream, making sure to get it everywhere it needed to go, down from the bellybutton to the base of Peter’s erection, which he just brushed with the back of his hand. When he was done that, he looked up again, hand poised over Peter’s balls, waiting for Peter’s nod to coat those too, which he did very thoroughly, making no secret of the fact that he was getting the measure of them as he did. Peter closed his eyes now, letting Isaac touch him, toes curling. 

Isaac moved off, lathering up the area underneath as well, though he couldn’t do the backside with Peter sitting. Then he took the razor, got in as close as he possibly could, and started scraping away the last of Peter’s hair. 

Peter seemed to swell even more, his head an angry purple, some fluid collected at the tip. Isaac just breathed on it, gently moving it aside as he needed to, until he got to the base and he gently pulled it forward as he shaved, the very tip of Peter just brushing his lips. Peter was clutching the end of the bench, knuckles white, as he tried to keep still.

He made a little noise of frustration when Isaac removed his hand, moving down the sides, and his erection smacked his belly with a wet sound. 

Very, very carefully, Isaac took the blade to Peter’s scrotum, which was a lot tighter than Isaac’s had been, and removed all the hair from it as slowly as he could. Peter was quivering. When Isaac finished that, he moved down and got at the area below, with Peter leaning back as much as he could. “You’re going to need to lay down if you want me to do the back.” 

Peter nodded, shifted on the bench, turning so he was laying down, backside exposed for Isaac. It was all Isaac could do not to cum on the spot. 

But he ignored the throb between his legs, kept his hands perfectly steady as he lathered, though a finger may have slipped deeper into the crack than strictly necessary a few times, and then shaved the whole area in practiced strokes. It was a lot easier than doing himself. 

“Hand me the cream.” Isaac’s voice was a little hoarse, and when Peter did, he nearly dropped it. All he could think of was how smooth and soft Peter was. His groin hurt. He massaged the cream in back there, and now Peter was not as good at holding still as he had been, and when Isaac paused with his slippery finger over the hole, he and Peter just made eye contact for a long minute. 

Isaac smiled and took his finger away, finishing with the cream going up, around the base, doing the whole pubic area, one again pulling Peter back nearly to his own lips with his free hand. Then Isaac finally put his hand on Peter’s balls one more time, squeezing them a little as he worked the cream in. 

“Isaac.”

“Almost done.” Isaac whispered, tongue flicking over the tip just so.

“ _Isaac._ ”

“Yeah.” Isaac leaned forward just a bit, gave Peter a little kiss on the head of his cock, and engulfed the whole thing in his mouth. 

Peter came immediately, balls tightening in Isaac’s hand, filling Isaac’s mouth with himself as he cried out as if in pain. Isaac took all he was given and swallowed it, sucking for good measure to greedily take as much as he could from Peter. 

When Peter was spent he relaxed a little, panting, and Isaac pulled off, sat up and looked down at him on the bench. “All done,” he said, wiping his mouth. “How do you feel?”

Peter managed to form a grin up at Isaac, offering up a hand for help sitting. “Nice and hairless.”

“Mission accomplished, then,” Isaac said, as he helped Peter sit. 

“I have a confession.”

“I’m listening.” 

Peter smirked a little now. “I didn’t really care about the shaving. This was all just an elaborate excuse to get you to touch me.”

Isaac laughed, leaned back a little on the bench. His erection was dying for attention and he knew Peter could see that. “Damn, then. I guess I’ve been had.”

“I feel a bit funny.”

“You look nice.” Peter looked really nice completely bare and sweaty and covered cream and glowing a little in a post-orgasm glow. 

“So do you.” Peter was still hard too, and now he was looking at Isaac in a hungry way. “Makes me want to feel if you’re as smooth as you look.”

Isaac grinned. “Be my guest.”

Peter scooted closer, reached out and put a hand on Isaac’s leg, ran it down the thigh to the knee, then back up, then in, then up his belly. That was all it took to get Isaac quivering, watching the hand, as it came up to his chest. Peter brushed a nipple, and Isaac gasped. “You liked that?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.” Peter did it again, licking his lips a little when Isaac made a noise. He took the hand away though, running it up Isaac’s shoulder, leaving what felt like a trail of sparks behind now. Peter ran soft fingers down Isaac’s arm, down to his hand and then back up, touching on his underarm before moving down his side, slipping around the back to glance a cheek before sliding around front to sink into Isaac’s bellybutton. 

Everywhere Peter touched tingled, spreading out until Isaac was tingling everywhere. Peter seemed content to let his hand sit there on Isaac’s stomach forever, but Isaac needed so badly for him to move, just to move a bit farther down, just a little bit… “Peter…”

“You’re so smooth,” Peter said. “I could touch you all day.”

Isaac nodded. “Me too.”

Peter started to slide his hand up rather than down, and Isaac made a little noise between frustration and excitement. As he moved up Isaac’s chest, Peter’s other hand wrapped around Isaac’s erection all of the sudden, and Isaac started. Peter got to Isaac’s nipple and pinched a little, then massaged, and that with the short thrusts his other hand was giving was enough for Isaac to tense up and come with a cry, splatting all up his chest. 

Peter’s hands came away as Isaac rode it out, and when Isaac opened his eyes, Peter was watching him with open adoration on his face. “That was something to watch.”

“It was something to feel, too,” Isaac managed, breathing coming under control now. 

“You’re all messy again.” 

Isaac looked down at himself, nodded. “Your fault.”

“Is that a complaint?”

“No.” Isaac looked up, locked eyes with Peter for a moment, and leaned forward, catching Peter’s lips with his, pressing them together to kiss. Peter made a little noise in his throat as he kissed Isaac back inexpertly, obviously not sure what he was doing. Isaac took it upon himself to teach by doing, patiently kissing Peter until he got the hang of it. 

“Now you’re all messy too,” Isaac muttered when they pulled back for air, their bodies pressed against one another. 

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” Isaac asked him. “We can stop when you want.” As far as he knew, Peter had never done this before. 

“I’ll let you know when I want to,” Peter said, leaning in and kissing Isaac again. They got lost in each other, bodies sliding against each other, that sparking coming back. They overbalanced and started to fall off the bench, and instead of trying to catch them, Isaac just rolled and made sure that he fell first, with Peter on top of him. The bench was low to the ground so when he ended up on his back on the stone floor, it didn’t hurt much, though it did take his breath away for a second. 

“Are you okay?” Peter asked now. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Isaac promised, smiling at his concern. “It didn’t hurt.”

“You shouldn’t have put me on top of you. I’m heavier than you.”

It was true, but Isaac didn’t care. “It’s okay. All part of my secret plan to get you on top of me.” 

“I guess I’m not the only evil mastermind here,” Peter chuckled, leaning in for another kiss. “Starting to realize why you like this so much.”

“Only starting?” Isaac asked. “I need to kiss you harder.”

“How do you feel about spreading your legs a bit—we can have the full experience?” 

Now Isaac just grinned, did exactly as Peter asked. “I was trying not to be too hopeful that you’d say that. Most guys don’t the first time.”

“I’m starting to realize that all that stuff they tell us about waiting and taking it slow and making it special are just ways to trick people into not having sex,” Peter told him, looking determined.

“That’s what I think too.”

“Tell me what to do?”

That was a hell of a sentence to hear, but Isaac just gulped and got comfortable on the floor. “Fingers first. Fortunately, some forward-thinking person already slicked us both up, so that part should go easy. But there’s more soap in the basket if you’re worried.” 

“How do I know when it’s enough?”

“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you if it hurts, too, so don’t worry.” Isaac gave Peter a reassuring pat on the arm. “I happen to be very good at this.” 

“So I hear.” Peter nodded, took a breath, and let one of his hand slide down Isaac again, in a hurry this time as Peter sat up and sat back a little, looking down at what he was doing. His hand disappeared between Isaac’s legs, gently poking around at the entrance for a second. 

When Peter finally worked up the nerve, his finger slipped right in. Isaac wriggled a little, enjoying the sensation. He let Peter explore for a minute or two, until suddenly his finger brushed against Isaac’s prostate and Isaac made a noise, surprised. “That’s what you’re looking for,” he told Peter.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Peter sounded breathless. “This isn’t as weird as I thought it would be.”

“That’s what I think too,” Isaac repeated with a nod. “You could put another one in, if you want.” 

Peter nodded, and did just that, Isaac letting out another sound as he did. “You like this.”

“See, that’s what I like about you,” Isaac panted. “You’re so smart.”

“You really think now is the time to be sarcastic?” Peter asked, flexing his fingers a little. 

“What are you going to do about it if I do?”

“Maybe this?” Peter reached up, gave Isaac’s right nipple a flick, smiling when Isaac gasped. “You’re not that hard to handle, Mister Chosen One. Do you want another finger?”

“Yes.” Isaac nodded, because he did. “Then something else.”

“I can probably manage that.” Peter slid the third finger in with more difficulty, but Isaac enjoyed the stretching even as he ached for something bigger. 

“Is that enough?” Peter asked after a minute. Isaac nodded again, and Peter withdrew his fingers all at once, smiling at the little moan. “This better be as good as you say.”

“I’d never lie to you, Peter,” Isaac promised. He was making a lot of promises tonight. 

“I hope not.” Peter leaned forward, holding himself up on hand as he positioned himself with the other, and Isaac could feel Peter pressing at his entrance. Soon he was pressing in, slowly and then faster, pushing himself inside until he was about halfway in, when he stopped, breathing on Isaac’s chest. “What now?”

Isaac bucked his hips in answer, urging Peter in deeper. “Your body is made to be able to do this—I think you can figure it out.” 

“Fine,” Peter grunted, and he moved his own hips in response, a shock of breath escaping him as he pushed farther into Isaac. “Yeah, I think I can figure it out.” 

“Good,” Isaac shuddered, and it was good, because that was about all he had to say. Peter thrust again, and started to pick up a rhythm as the got the rest of the way in, managing on his fifth try to hit Isaac’s prostate again and make Isaac loose count. 

Peter gripped Isaac’s shoulder as he went, breath coming hot on Isaac’s face now, and Isaac reached up and wrapped his arms around Peter, needy and wanting the contact. The room was filled with the sounds of them, the wet squelch, the slap of flesh on flesh, the heavy breaths and low moans, and all Isaac could feel was Peter, in him, on top of him, all around him, and…

Isaac knew Peter was close before Peter did, feeling the tensing of his muscles, the tightening of his grip and the shortening of his breath. The shout Peter gave when he exploded inside Isaac was beautiful, filling Isaac’s ears and the room, and it was ultimately what pushed Isaac over the edge too, and he cried out a little as he clung to Peter, shooting all up his chest in between the two of them. 

They collapsed into one another, trying to catch their breath, smooth skin sliding as they settled into a better position, and Peter inched up and kissed Isaac again, deeply, better this time than before. For a moment they just lay there and kissed, enjoying the feel of each other, Isaac’s hands wandering to slide up and down Peter, and Peter following suit. 

Then, sadly, Peter pulled back, rolled off of Isaac and lay beside him on the floor, breathing up at the ceiling. 

“We’re both dirty now,” Isaac observed after a minute. 

Peter laughed. “Next time we’ll shave before we wash.”

“And here I thought the shaving was just an elaborate excuse.” 

“I liked that part too. This part, though…I’m a bit annoyed that you didn’t talk me into it sooner.”

“I didn’t talk you into it at all.”

“That’s true.” Peter nodded vaguely, reaching out to hold Isaac’s hand. “I see why you like it.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll do it again.”

“Yeah.”

“Soon?”

“Whenever you want, Peter.” Isaac looked over at him, thinking about how pretty he was covered in sweat and soap and cum, his hair plastered to his head and his whole body flushed. 

“Okay. I want to know what it’s like to be on bottom. You seemed to enjoy it.”

“I did.” Isaac could feel himself getting harder again just from this. “I don’t have as much experience topping, but I’ll do my best.” He’d do it right now, but it was clear that Peter was exhausted. 

“All I ask.” Peter snuggled a little closer to Isaac. “I guess we should get up and wash again.” 

“And go to bed, probably. Not that nobody ever has sex in here, but it might be pushing it if we’re here in the morning when everyone comes down.” 

“Probably.” Peter nodded. “Just a few more minutes, though.”

“I think we can take a few more minutes.”

“I’m glad I met you, Isaac.”

“Me too, Peter.” 

They lay there, together, for nearly another half hour before they had the energy to get up and wash, put more cream on and leave the bathing room with all their supplies. Isaac put on Peter’s smallclothes when they dressed, and after they got back to the room they slept together, and so soundly that Skip and Spencer couldn’t wake them and they missed breakfast.


	32. Adaptability Is Useful When a Lot of Things Are Happening at Once

“Can’t believe they’re making us go to a banquet,” Peter grumbled as they left the tailor’s shop. 

Isaac nodded his agreement. Anything where he had to go get new clothes made—because the clothes he had weren’t good enough, according to Oliver—was not going to be a good experience in his book. Especially not if wearing them all night was going to be like the five minutes he’d had some on in there. He was barely going to be able to move. 

On the upside, he’d been able to get a little handsy with the tailor’s apprentice who’d been taking his measurements, so that was okay. 

“I mean, fine,” Peter continued, as Oliver led them onto the street. “They want to meet the chosen one—but now? They can’t wait until there are fewer of us?”

“Maybe they’re worried there’ll be four next time they look.” Isaac wouldn’t have put it past the world to spring a fourth chosen one on them at this point. He wasn’t sure there was anything that would surprise him by now. 

“Maybe they were hoping that holding it now would encourage the academy to hurry up and figure out what’s going on,” Oliver suggested, smiling back at them. “Not that it’s going to work.”

“They want us to remember that they’re keeping an eye on us,” Isaac said, looking around at the crowd in a way that he couldn’t help but do every time he was out of the academy. He didn’t see anyone he’d categorize as suspicious, but then, he didn’t really know what suspicious people looked like. 

There was an agitated man shouting about the messiah on a corner, but an old knight and his squire were already moving to talk to him before he could do more than shout. “Why do people who want us to know about the messiah always have to shout like crazy people?” he asked, watching. “Why aren’t there normal people who think he’s coming?”

“There are,” Peter said quietly, also watching. “They just don’t shout about it on street corners. They preach about it in sermons where everyone has to listen to them. Both my parents do.”

“Do you think he’s coming?” Oliver asked Peter, who just shrugged. 

“If he is, he could do us all a favour and introduce himself.” 

Oliver laughed. “Like our chosen one did?” Isaac had wondered how well Peter and Oliver would get along, but they seemed to be doing okay. He’d told Peter about his crush on Oliver, of course. And Oliver knew about how he felt about Peter, but neither of them was weird about it. It was good. 

Oliver sighed, stretching a little. “We should head back to the academy, unless you two want lunch first.” He smiled. “Though you’d probably prefer if I wasn’t there, right?”

“Of course not, Oliver.” Peter smiled at Oliver. “I appreciate you taking the time to take us out, and especially for letting me tag along.” 

“Isaac was worried you’d have to go to the banquet naked,” Oliver told him with a shrug. 

“And he wanted you to help him make sure that _didn’t_ happen?” Peter asked. “That doesn’t sound like Isaac.” 

“Hey, I’m right here.” Not that Peter was entirely wrong or anything. 

“I know you are.” 

Isaac pulled a bit of a face, and Peter laughed at him. “If you went naked to the banquet I’d just be frustrated all night. I’d rather you were naked afterwards…” Isaac trailed off, noticing someone off behind Peter.

“Isaac?”

It was definitely Jacob, wandering through the crowd. But he was stumbling, looking a little disoriented. He turned into an alley and Isaac stepped in that direction, worried. “Isaac, what’s wrong?”

“Sorry, I see a friend over there. I’ll be right back.” 

“A friend?” Oliver asked, peering in that direction. “Who?”

He’d never told Oliver about Jacob, now that Isaac thought of it. “I’ll tell you in a minute. Just, I’ll be right back.”

“You’re not going off on your own,” Peter told him, and the two of them followed Isaac in heading for the alley that Jacob had disappeared into. It was cleaner than Isaac had expected. There were just a few pieces of trash lying about, and what looked like a pile of rotting wood off to one side. 

Jacob was just sort of standing there in the alley when Isaac got there, looking lost. “Jacob?”

He turned, blinked. “Isaac? What are you doing out here? This isn’t where I left you.”

“Shopping for clothes—are you okay? You’re walking funny.” 

Jacob shook his head, but then nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just, um. I got lost. Do…you know where the ocean is?”

“The ocean?” Isaac had crossed the rest of the distance between them while Peter and Oliver crowded the entrance to the alley behind him. “It’s, uh, west of here, isn’t it?”

The question of why that mattered struck Isaac almost as much as the question of why Jacob didn’t know. 

“Right, right.” Jacob turned that way, found a wall. “I’m…I’m going to go there, I think.”

“To the ocean?”

Jacob nodded, raising a hand to touch the wall. He was wearing two heavy rings on his fingers that Isaac had never seen on him before. “Yeah, I need to go there. I’ll come back when I’m done, promise.”

“Why do you need to go to the ocean?” Nothing about this seemed right. Jacob wasn’t acting right, and he wasn’t talking the way he usually did, and all Isaac could think about was that those were both signs of mind control, according to Lee. 

“Because I…I just do. I need too…” He trailed off, looking around. “Where is it? I thought it was west, the ocean. Did you lie to me?”

“No, Jacob, I didn’t. It’s far away.” 

“He’s being compelled,” Peter said quietly, approaching Isaac. Jacob didn’t seem to notice. Isaac nodded. They hadn’t gotten to the part of Lee’s class where she taught them how to fix that, though, so Isaac looked at Oliver. 

Oliver nodded at Isaac, stepping forward. “Jacob, that’s your name, right? I think I can help you.”

“Help me?” Jacob asked, looking up at Oliver. “You can tell me where the ocean is. That’s the only help I need. I’m fine.”

“There’s a river not far from the capital, maybe half a day. It leads to the ocean. That’s the fastest way to get there.” 

Jacob nodded, made as if to walk past Oliver. “Okay. Thank you. I’m going to go there.”

“Hold on.” Oliver reached out, grabbed Jacob by the arm. “Something’s wrong with you.”

“No!” Jacob pulled back, one hand covering the other, hiding the two rings from their sight. “Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m fine, I know what I’m doing. Leave me alone!”

“Not until we’ve helped you.”

“I don’t need your help!”

“Hey! What’s going on down here?” 

Isaac turned, saw the squire from before standing in the mouth of the alley. He was blonde and thin, limbs a little long for someone of his height. 

“We’re just…”

Jacob was the only one not distracted by the new arrival, and he suddenly grabbed Oliver’s shoulders, using them to pull himself up into the air. Oliver shouted as Jacob put a foot on his shoulder now, leaping from there to the roof of the building on the west side of the alley. 

“Jacob!” Isaac reached out, touched Dark and tried to grab Jacob before he could get away, but it was too late. “Damn it.” 

“We should go back to the academy,” Oliver said, taking his hand off Light as he spoke. “We can get someone to go after him. He can’t move that fast.”

Isaac wasn’t so sure about that, but he nodded. 

“What the hell is going on with you three?”

Isaac looked up at the advancing young knight again, frowned at him. “My friend was in trouble. We were trying to help him. Until you distracted us so he could get away.” He immediately felt a little bad about that—it wasn’t this guy’s fault that Jacob had run. 

“Three against one, looked to me like it wasn’t your help he needed.”

“He was being compelled,” Oliver told him. “Controlled by something. We were trying to break the spell.”

“Really?” The squire looked at the three of them. “So you’re mages, then?” He sort of squinted as if he might see them doing something magical. 

“Yes, and we need to get back to the academy now before he hurts himself.” 

Isaac looked up at Oliver, even more concerned than he had been. “You don’t think he will, do you?”

“Probably not.” Oliver looked up at the rooftops and sighed. “That’s why I told him about the river. If he’s in enough control of himself, he’ll head there rather than walking all the way to the coast.” He smiled now. “There are tricks for dealing with compelled people if you can’t break the spell. We’ll go back to the academy and tell them about what happened—they’ll send someone after him and catch him before he goes too far. Compulsion spells aren’t that hard to break.”

“Especially when it’s obviously because of those rings he was wearing,” Peter added, and Isaac nodded. He wondered where Jacob had gotten them. 

“Okay.” Isaac said, taking a breath and trying to convince himself that it was going to be okay. “Let’s get going, then.” 

“Hold on…”

“What’s your name?” Oliver asked the squire. 

“Leo.”

“Leo, we don’t have time—we have to get back to the academy and get that kid some help.”

“I’m not allowed to just let you go. You have to wait until Sir Dalton gets here and explain to him…”

Leo was cut off by a loud shifting of wood and a little animal yelp. Isaac looked and saw that the little pile of wood had collapsed suddenly. Which was probably what had caused the little guy now growling at it to flee its safety so suddenly. 

A puppy, black but for his white paws, and the grey spot over his left eye. 

Isaac felt his heart drop out of his chest, and he took a step towards the puppy. 

He was too skinny, dirty and matted, probably covered in fleas. He growled at Isaac now as Isaac got closer. “Isaac…” Peter said quietly. 

“Shh…” Isaac said, waving at Peter. “He’s scared. Yeah, you’re scared, aren’t you, little guy?”

The dog growled some more, and Isaac held out a hand for him to sniff. “Come here, we’re not going to hurt you.” 

“Isaac, be careful,” Oliver warned. 

“He’s not going to hurt me, Oliver, he’s just a puppy.”

“He’s going to bite you.”

“Of course he is.” Isaac waved at Oliver now. “Shh.” 

The puppy was still growling, but he’d stopped backing away from Isaac, at least. Isaac held out his hand patiently, and a moment later he quieted, gave Isaac a sniff. And bit Isaac on the finger. 

Isaac pulled his hand back, gave the puppy a little tap on the nose. “None of that,” he said, reaching out and scooping the puppy up into his arms, standing. The little guy struggled for a moment, but eventually he settled in under the scratches Isaac was giving him behind his ears. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? I’ll find you something to eat. But you’re having a bath too.”

The puppy yapped in his arms, and Isaac couldn’t help but smile down at it, aware that a few tears came to his eyes and not able to help it. 

“Isaac, you can’t take him back to the academy,” Oliver said, and Isaac turned and look at him. 

“Yes, I can,” Isaac whispered. 

Oliver softened, shaking his head. “I just had to say it for posterity. Try not to let any faculty see him.” 

Isaac nodded, and smiled at Peter when he leaned in for a closer look. “We’ll have to come up with something to call him,” Peter said, poking the dog on the nose. 

Isaac nodded again. “You want to help?”

“Careful. The whole dorm’s going to have ideas if you offer to let people help.”

“That’s fine.” Isaac hugged the puppy tighter, arms shaking a bit. “He needs to eat something, he’s starving.”

He turned to Leo, who was still standing in the alley mouth, looking at them with his mouth open a little. He sighed, shook his head. “Fine, all of you just go. Nobody who gets teary eyed about a puppy could possibly be up to anything bad.”

“Thank you.” Isaac smiled at Leo, who moved aside to let them go. As he passed, he said, “You know, you’re pretty cute.”

Leo blinked, then gave Isaac a toothy smile. “Yeah? So are you, you know.”

“Am I?” Isaac asked, cradling the puppy. “I’m Isaac.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“I’ll see you, maybe.” Isaac hoped so, anyway. 

“Maybe.” Leo shifted a little, and led them out back onto the street. “I do have to report this,” he said, looking over to where his old knight was sternly lecturing the crazy messiah man. “Someone will probably come by your academy later to make sure you’re actually doing something about that guy.” 

“Okay, thank you,” Oliver said, patting Leo on the shoulder and gesturing for Peter and Isaac to follow him “We should get going.” 

They started off that way, and Peter walked a little closer to Isaac than usual. “Really?”

“What, he was cute,” Isaac protested. “I’m in distress, not dead.” 

Peter laughed at him, but his expression got a little more serious. “That was your thief friend, right? The one you told me about?” At Isaac’s nod, he glanced at Oliver. “You’re going to have to tell Oliver how you know him.”

“I know.” Isaac sighed, shifting the puppy in his arms. “I hope he’s okay.”

“Do you think those rings came from the academy?”

“Probably,” Isaac sighed. They were obviously dangerous, so they should have been in the Vault, where Jacob had said he wasn’t going to go. But where else would he have gotten them?

“Hey,” Peter said, putting a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Isaac. He’ll be fine.”

Isaac nodded, wishing he could be as sure of that. And wishing that there weren’t so many things in the world that he didn’t understand, or at least that the things he didn’t understand would stop happening to the people he cared about.


	33. Some Problems Really Do Sort Themselves out

“Light, dark and shadow are a bridge between the foundational powers of order and chaos,” Isaac muttered to himself as he followed after the puppy, who was wandering around the grounds. “In order to keep them from destroying one another and the universe. There are three of them because three is a power of cosmic unity…or something, and they’re what keeps the universe from falling apart.”

The puppy barked at him. 

“I know, sounds like crap to me too.” Isaac shook his head with a sigh. Elena had threatened the possibility of pop quizzes in Development, which had Isaac worried that he’d show up for it one day and forget everything. It seemed like a pretty real chance, since everything they’d learned so far was that at one point in the history of time, a bunch of ideas had crashed into each other and created the universe. It certainly wasn’t what Isaac had learned as a kid and he was having a hard time keeping it straight. Peter had told him that summarizing it for himself might help him remember, and he needed something to do while he took the puppy out for yet another walk. 

At least the nameless dog had figured out that he had to pee outside. 

He was still skinny, but he was gaining weight now that he had Isaac feeding him properly. After being put in the lake a few times he was clean, and Isaac had been putting some herbs he knew about into the puppy’s food to kill his fleas and worms. All Isaac had to do was give him a name and he could start training him properly. 

Isaac had a lot of suggestions from a lot of people for names, but he hadn’t liked any of them enough to decide on one yet. He knew he needed to soon, but he was oddly uncertain. He’d never had trouble naming a dog before. 

Isaac yawned, looking down at the dog. “Come on,” he said, turning back towards the dorms. “You’ve peed on enough things tonight. We’re going inside.”

The nameless puppy wasn’t obedient enough yet to listen to him, but he was only brave in the circle of light cast by Isaac’s floating ball, so he followed after it when Isaac started to move. It was much easier taking him out at night for that reason. During the day Isaac had to pick him up when it was time to go back inside. 

He didn’t blame the poor dog for wanting to be outside, but he also didn’t want the puppy being cast out to live in the streets again because the wrong person had seen him. “At least everyone in the dorm likes you,” he said to the puppy as he walked. 

The dog barked again, then again, then ran to the edge of the circle of light and started growling just as Isaac felt a little tug on his mind. Diana had shown them a simple spell for detecting when people were nearby, and Isaac had taken to using it at night since he’d found himself less fond of being in the dark by himself that before. “Hello?” he called.

Some bushes rustled a bit of distance away, and Isaac took a hesitant step towards them. “It’s me,” Jacob’s voice called. “It’s me.” He stepped out from the bush, brushing leaves from his shirt. Not quite looking at Isaac. 

“Jacob.” Isaac rushed over, hugged him without thinking. “Are you okay? What happened to you? I was so worried after I saw you the other day. Tell me you got rid of those rings.”

“I did, I did.” Jacob hugged Isaac back. “I’m okay now. I was…I don’t know, it was weird. All I could think about was how I had to go to the ocean.” 

“You were being compelled. They must have been cursed, or something.”

Jacob nodded, still holding onto Isaac. The puppy was sniffing around his boots. “I think so. I went to the river like your friend told me. I walked overnight without sleeping. It was really wide, and deep. When I got there, I almost jumped in.” 

“Fuck, Jacob,” Isaac whispered, hugging tighter. 

“It’s okay. All I wanted to do was jump in and let the current take me downriver until it emptied into the ocean. But I knew it wasn’t me. It wasn’t a normal thing to want. I took the rings off and tossed them in the water and I was fine after that, almost right away. There were some people who I think were looking for me, but I avoided them. You sent them, right?”

“Yeah, sorry. Oliver wanted to make sure you were okay.” Isaac had heard that the people the academy had sent had come back empty-handed, which hadn’t helped his worry even if it hadn’t surprised him. 

“It’s okay. They weren’t very good at looking for people. I got away. But I’m okay, I didn’t need help or anything. Swear.” 

“Good, that’s good.” Isaac let out a long sigh, and let Jacob go, stepping back a bit and looking at him. “The rings. You took them from the archmage’s office.” Oliver had told him that the day after they’d met Jacob in the city. Isaac had told him about his relationship with Jacob, but they’d managed to get away with just telling everyone else that they’d met someone in the city. 

Jacob nodded, taking Isaac’s hand in his apparently without realizing it. “Yeah. I was there for something else, some papers or something. They were under a little cover, I couldn’t even see them. I had the strangest urge to see what was under there, which I’m naturally nosy so I didn’t think anything of it. I felt funny as soon as I saw them. It was stupid. I should have known to be more careful.”

“It could have happened to anyone, Jacob. Don’t worry about it.” Isaac brought his hand up and kissed it. “All I care about is that you’re okay.” 

Jacob nodded, looking away. “I can’t stay tonight. I just…wanted to see you for a few minutes. To let you know that I’m okay. And to apologize. Sorry for being such a jerk.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“That’s not the point. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble.”

“That doesn’t sound like you,” Isaac chided. “Shouldn’t it be something like ‘if you got in trouble it was your own fault for not being careful enough?’”

Jacob laughed, still looking down. “I guess I’m a little off my game. Don’t worry, I’ll disregard your feelings properly next time I see you.”

“Good.” Isaac reached up, tilted Jacob’s chin up so he could look him in the eye. “You didn’t get me in trouble. It’s fine.” 

“Okay.” 

Jacob looked like he wanted to lean forward, but he didn’t, so Isaac did and kissed him on the lips for a second. Jacob smiled. 

The puppy barked. 

“When did you get an attack dog?”

Now it was Isaac’s turn to laugh. “The only thing he attacks is meat. I found him just after you left.” 

“Ah. So if it wasn’t for me you’d have never met him. You’re welcome.”

“Thanks.” Isaac grinned, gave Jacob another kiss. 

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t know yet.” Isaac bent down, scooped the puppy into his arms and raised him so Jacob could get a better look. “I’m having trouble coming up with names. Do you have a suggestion?”

“Not really.” Jacob gave the puppy a scratch behind the ears, which seemed to put him in the puppy’s good books. “It’ll need to be something impressive, though. You finding him smells like destiny or something. Maybe you should call him Destiny.”

Isaac laughed.

“I’m serious! Maybe he’s the chosen dog. A chosen dog for a chosen one.”

“Probably not.” Something about that tugged at Isaac, but not hard enough to do more that distract him for a second. “Next time you see him, he’ll have a name.” 

“I’ll judge it, and you, accordingly.”

“I’ll try to live up to your expectations, rougeish intruder.”

“You’d better, sheltered mage.” Jacob leaned in and kissed Isaac again while the dog barked in protest at being sandwiched between them. “I should go. I have to meet with my employer, which is going to suck.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Jacob.”

“Yeah. I, uh…” Jacob looked uncertain for a minute. “I don’t technically have any reason to come back here anymore, you know. And it’s safer if I don’t.”

“Oh.” Isaac looked away. “Okay.”

“I’m going to come back anyway!” Jacob added hurriedly. “Just…I don’t know. Wanted you to know that. I’m coming back to see you. Because I like you. And stuff.” 

Isaac blinked, looked back up at Jacob. “I like you, and stuff, too.” 

Jacob grinned and gave Isaac a quick hug. “Good. I’ll come back next week, okay?”

“Okay. I’m glad you’re okay, Jacob.” 

“Me too. Thanks, Isaac.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Jacob reluctantly stepped back, out of the sphere of light, and disappeared into the night. 

Isaac watched him go, relieved, and he was only shaking out of it when the puppy barked again. “Okay, okay, let’s go. You can walk.” The puppy protested at being put on the ground, but Isaac just started walking. “You aren’t getting into the habit of being carried everywhere. Skip already does it too much as it is.” 

Isaac took the puppy back to the dorms and crawled into his bed beside Peter, letting the dog up on the bed with them. He felt better than he had any night since the incident with Jacob in the town, and it was a huge weight of his mind that made sleep find him much sooner than usual. 

It was right before he fell asleep that Isaac remembered he had never told Jacob about him being the chosen one.


	34. Most of the Time, Major Things Happen Far Away

“We need to name him something,” Isaac muttered, watching the puppy sniff around. 

“You say that like you just thought of it,” Skip said, arms crossed as he leaned against the dormitory’s outer wall. “You’re the one who hasn’t named him.”

“I know, I know.” Isaac frowned at the dog, then looked up at his roommates. He didn’t need all three of them to police a puppy who needed to pee, but here all of them were, having left lunch early with him to make sure their room wasn’t a mess when they got back. 

Or at least, it wasn’t the kind of mess that they didn’t want to clean up again. 

“It’s not like we haven’t suggested a lot of names,” Peter reminded. “You just haven’t liked any of them.”

“It’s not that,” Isaac said hastily. The names that had been suggested were good. Mostly good. Nicholas had suggested naming him Spot. “It’s just…”

“They’re not what you’re looking for.” Spencer nodded. He’d suggested Ruffle, which Isaac thought was very cute. 

Isaac nodded, watching as the puppy finally decided on a place to pee. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Spencer assured him. 

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Skip’s suggestions had been Dolphin and Digger. “I mean, I’d listen to your suggestions if you had them when it was time for me to name my kid, but I’m not just going to let you wander in and make the decision for me.” 

Isaac smiled a little at that, because Skip wasn’t wrong. “Maybe I’ll name him Casper,” he suggested. 

“Maybe I’ll drown you in the lake. Then we can name him Isaac in your memory,” Skip said with a smile. 

“Why do you hate it so much?” Peter asked, and Skip just shrugged. 

The puppy finished up its business and, as usual, tried to run away. Spencer moved in front of him and picked him up, shaking his head as he puppy protested. “Someday you’ll learn.”

_A chosen dog for a chosen one_ , Isaac thought, watching the puppy squirm. Jacob’s comment had been bothering him because Jacob wasn’t supposed to know about Isaac, but now the words came back to him for a different reason. And he broke into a grin. 

“Aha.” Peter pointed at Isaac. “He’s thought of a name.” Peter had suggested Paintbrush before declaring he had no talent for naming things and opting out of the rest of the process. 

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, smiling down at the puppy in Spencer’s arms. “I think that…” he trailed off, something loud tugging at his senses. The Pillars vibrated around him for a minute, and Isaac looked up. It felt like something had pulled on them, from far away, in the east.

“Isaac?” 

Isaac looked back, to see all three of them looking at him a bit funny. “You guys didn’t feel that?”

All three of them nodded, but it was Peter who spoke. “The Pillars moved for a second.”

“Even I felt it.” Spencer sounded afraid, and Skip nodded. 

Isaac looked east, not that there was anything to see. “I wonder what it was. It felt like something shook all the Pillars at once. I’ve never seen that before.” It hadn’t just been a small move, it had been as though something had grabbed hold of all of them and given them a hard pull. 

Isaac wondered who was powerful enough to do that. 

“We should go inside,” Spencer said quietly. “We have class soon.”

Isaac had a feeling they didn’t, but he nodded and the four of them took the no longer unnamed puppy inside, depositing him in their room where his water bowl was. Isaac usually let him wander around the dormitory, but not when he wasn’t there. “We’ll be back later, little guy,” Isaac promised him, as the four of them left for class. 

Isaac was entirely unsurprised when, as they left the dormitory, Colby came up to them, grinning. “Hey, classes are cancelled for the day. The Pillars vibrated for like one second and now the faculty are all up in arms.”

Nodding, Isaac made himself smile. “That’s awesome.”

It wasn’t awesome. It made Isaac very worried. 

“Yeah. I didn’t even notice, but I guess it’s a big deal.” Colby shrugged. “I guess you guys just have just put Mr. Paws in your room, yeah?” Colby’s suggestion had been one of the less impressive ones in Isaac’s book. 

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, gestured behind him. “You can visit him if you want.” 

Isaac wasn’t the only one missing a dog from home, as it had turned out. Colby grinned, patting Isaac on the shoulder. “Thanks. You coming up?” 

“In a bit, yeah,” Isaac promised, reading Colby’s expression. 

“Cool,” Colby smiled again and moved past Isaac and the rest of them. He wasn’t the only one heading for the dormitory, so Isaac moved out of the doorway.

“It was serious enough for them to cancel class over,” Spencer said quietly. 

“Could still be nothing,” Skip offered, hands in his pockets. “Maybe it happens all the time and the faculty just wanted the afternoon off before it stops being summer.”

“Could be.” Isaac sighed, looking out over the grounds. He could see a few teachers heading for the main tower, coming from different buildings. He guessed there was going to be a meeting. “Hold on.”

“They aren’t going to tell you anything, Isaac,” Peter told him, as Isaac headed in the direction of the tower. 

“I know.” But Isaac went anyway, leaving the three of them standing there. 

He caught Yancy just at the front doors of the tower. “Yancy.”

“Ah.” Yancy turned, apparently surprised to see Isaac there. “Isaac.” 

“What happened?”

“You felt it, then?” At Isaac’s nod, Yancy put on a grim face. “I wish I could tell you, lad. But alas, I’m not sure. Nor is anyone else, I fear.” 

“Okay,” Isaac nodded, looking away a bit. 

“If I knew anything, Isaac,” Yancy said, “I wouldn’t keep it from you.” 

“I believe you.”

“Why don’t you give your thoughts on what happened? They may be different from mine.”

Isaac doubted that, and he shrugged. “I was just outside with my friends. It suddenly felt like someone had pulled on the whole…” he gestured vaguely in front of him, letting his fingers brush Light as he did. “Not just on the Pillars, like, individually, you know. It felt like a tug on the whole thing. Like someone crashed into it all or something.” 

“I see.” Yancy nodded, clearly curious. “A different perspective indeed.” 

“That’s not what you felt?”

“Not the words I would have used, perhaps, but I hazard that they aren’t any less correct than any other.” Yancy glanced up at the tower. “I must go, lad. The archmage has called a faculty meeting.” He smiled suddenly. “Which should tell you something, Isaac. There’s nothing the man hates more than to have all of us crowding in one room.” He gave a conspiratorial wink, and Isaac laughed a little. “I should go.”

“Okay. Sorry to bother you.”

“Not to worry, Isaac. About that or what’s happened. If it’s something to be worried about, we’ll do the worrying. You focus on your studies.” 

“Oh God, don’t remind me,” Isaac muttered, but he stepped back and let Yancy into the tower with a sigh. He moved away from the door so the other faculty wouldn’t think he was lurking, and nearly stepped full-tilt into someone as he turned. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Christopher was looking down at Isaac, who blinked. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah.” Isaac put on a smile. “Well. I hope so.” 

“Nothing you can do about it if it’s not,” Christopher said, patting him on the shoulder. It might just have been Isaac’s imagination, the emphasis he heard on the word ‘you.’ “Just enjoy the afternoon off.” 

“Yeah, thanks.” Isaac saw that Oliver was coming this way as well, with a few of their other friends. They must have had some class or something of their own. He knew that the apprentices took advanced classes together. “You too.”

Christopher chuckled. “Mixed feelings. Missing the advanced shadow magic class, which is a great seminar—but Yancy leads it, which sucks.” He shrugged. “See you around, Isaac.”

“See you,” Isaac said, as he buckled a little under the hard pat Christopher gave him on the back. When he recovered from it, Oliver was there. “Hey.”

“Hey. Everything’s okay.”

“I know, I was just…” Isaac looked around, shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you do when class is cancelled?”

“Study?”

“See, Oliver, this is something we need to work on,” Isaac told him, straightening a bit. “There’s this thing called fun. I know you work for Yancy, but you must have heard of it, at least.”

All of Oliver’s friends were laughing at him, and Christopher tapped Oliver on the shoulder. “Kid’s got a point, Oliver.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re all hilarious.” Oliver shook his head, gave Isaac a pat on the shoulder. “Seriously, though—you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Isaac promised, and Oliver smiled at him. “I should go. My friends are waiting for me to come back.”

“Okay, see you around.” 

“Yeah.” Hearing the same words from Oliver was a lot nicer than when they’d come from Christopher. Isaac smiled, and moved away from the apprentices to jog back over to his roommates. “Sorry,” he told them, immediately wishing he hadn’t jogged. It wasn’t blistering hot anymore, but now he was sweating a bit. 

“Learn anything?” Peter asked him. 

“Not really.” Isaac looked over his shoulder at the main tower. “I didn’t think I would. I just…” He shrugged. 

“Can’t leave well enough alone?”

“Yep, that’s me.” 

“One of the things we like about you, Isaac,” Peter assured him. 

“Alright,” Skip said, taking a deep breath. “Not to be flippant, but there’s no point in worrying about something we can’t even learn about. Let’s do something fun.”

“Oliver suggested I study,” Isaac told him.

“Well, we’re not doing that,” Skip declared, putting an arm around Spencer before he could disagree. “Let’s go swimming or something, come on.”

“I’ll be there in a bit,” Isaac told them, as Skip dragged Spencer down that way. “Colby’s upstairs with the puppy, I should go say hi at least.”

Peter poked Isaac with his cane. “Do not. Have sex with Colby. On my bed.”

Isaac laughed.

“I’m serious. It was bad enough I caught you with Neil last week. Your bed is two feet away.” 

“You sleep in my bed most of the time anyway,” Isaac protested, embarrassed more because he’d assumed Peter wouldn’t be back until after they were done than anything else. 

“Isaac.”

“Okay, okay.” Isaac put his hands up in self-defence. “Maybe we won’t have sex, you ever think of that?”

“Anyone who thinks Isaac’s not about to get laid, raise their hand.”

Nobody raised their hand. 

“Wow, thanks, guys.”

“It’s a compliment,” Spencer assured him. “Probably.”

“Just don’t take all day. I expect you to spend quality bonding time with us in the lake,” Skip told him, waving a finger. 

Isaac smiled. “I wouldn’t miss it.” 

It ended up being a really nice afternoon. Isaac decided that time off was what he made of it, and worrying about why he had it was a waste.


	35. It’s Never What’s at the Party That’s Fun, It’s What’s All around It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter of the series by far, but damn was it a lot of fun to write. Enjoy!
> 
> As usual, reading other parts of this crossover is not necessary for understanding this one. :)

The banquet was turning out not to be as terrible as Isaac had worried it would be. Even if he’d missed most of it so far. 

“Are you sure about this?” 

Isaac smiled, covering it a little with his hand as he did. He looked up at Turner. He had a light smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose that Isaac could just make out in the lamplight, and his dark brown hair was hanging his worried eyes. Isaac reached up and brushed that hair aside so he could see them. “If I wasn’t sure, you would never have lost so many clothes, silly.”

Turner’s pants and smallclothes were around his knees, his fancy jacket on the floor somewhere, his shirt hiked up to his armpits and his erection was in his hand, in between Isaac’s legs, waiting for Turner to move. Isaac had lost his pants entirely and his shirt was pulled up to expose his belly as well. 

He’d only met Turner a half hour ago. 

Turner laughed a little, a nervous chuckle that was what had endeared Isaac to him in the first place. “Okay…”

“Are you sure?” Isaac asked him. Turner’s grandfather was some major lord. If Turner was supposed to be Lord Turner and inherit a castle someday, Isaac thought he should learn to be a little more commanding. But he was very nice and Isaac liked that about him. “We can stop if you want.”

Turner had a very pretty dick, quivering there between Isaac’s legs, shining a little with the coat of Isaac’s spit that was still on it from a few minutes ago. Between it and Turner’s tongue Isaac wasn’t sure which had tasted better, and he wanted to do a taste test on both again before he made a decision. But as much as Isaac wanted it to bury itself inside of him rather than hiding behind Turner’s smallclothes again, he only wanted it if Turner wasn’t going to feel bad about it after. On the hand he was using to hold himself steady, Turner was wearing a betrothal ring. 

“No,” Turner said, breathing heavy. “I…I’d like to.”

“Then we should,” Isaac told him, nodding encouragingly. 

“Okay…I’m going to put it in.” 

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Turner was ready after just a second, and he pressed his head against Isaac’s entrance, letting out a strained sort of humming noise as he pressed in without too much difficulty. Isaac had prepared himself and besides, Turner wasn’t the first person whose pants he’d managed to get into tonight. 

“Aaaa…” Isaac let out as Turner pushed all the way into him. “That’s good, I like that." 

“Me too…” Turner panted, and he leaned down and reintroduced Isaac to his tongue. Isaac kissed him back, and they made little noises into each other’s mouths while Turner started moving in and out. 

Usually with new guys it was kind of fast and awkward, but Turner went slowly and carefully, his every thrust measured carefully. He didn’t seem to know what Isaac wanted him to aim for, which spoke to his inexperience, but he did bring his free hand up and wrap it around Isaac’s dick as he went, the metal of the ring warm against Isaac’s skin. 

Isaac put his arms around Turner to pull him closer, lips not leaving his except for a few seconds at a time because Turner hadn’t mastered breathing through his nose. Turner had lasted about thirty seconds when Isaac had blown him before, but he did a lot better this time, fucking Isaac for several great minutes before suddenly tensing, making a loud noise into Isaac’s mouth, and shooting inside of him. 

Turner kept thrusting into Isaac as he came, and he jerked Isaac off ever faster as he did. On his very last squirt Turner thrust into Isaac hard and at just the right angle, hitting that spot and sending Isaac into orgasm as well, which he did with a stifled moan and an arching of his back. 

Turner stayed where he was for a long minute, panting in Isaac’s ear, but he did finally pull out to lay on the floor beside him. Isaac clenched his muscles so no cum would leak out onto the fancy carpet in this nice empty room they’d borrowed. 

The castle had a lot of those. It was really convenient. 

They cuddled on the floor for a few minutes in a warm silence that had Isaac drifting off a bit. Then Turner said, “I don’t want to get married.”

“Then don’t,” Isaac told him, holding his ringed hand.

“It doesn’t work that way.” Turner sighed, pulled Isaac closer for just a second, before sitting up and starting to fix his clothes. “Marriage is political when you’re a noble.”

“So telling her you don’t like her would start a war or something?” Isaac sat up too, more carefully, and looked around for the smallclothes that Peter had forced him to wear tonight. He was glad he wasn’t a noble.

“Hopefully not, but you never know.” Turner gave Isaac a bit of a smile. “I do like her. We’ve been friends for a long time. I just…” He shrugged, went back to lacing his pants.

“If you ask me,” Isaac said, pulling up his smallclothes. He had a second pair folded up, which he stuck into the back to help with any potential leakage. That had also been Peter’s idea, so he wouldn’t walk around the whole night with a stain on his expensive dress pants. Regretfully, it was now time to put those on, so Isaac stuck his leg in. “Getting married should be about being friends with someone. I mean, you can have sex with anyone, but if you’re going to live with one person until you die, it should be someone you like, right?”

Turner looked at Isaac for a minute, watching Isaac dress. And he laughed a little. “You know, you’re pretty smart.” 

“Not really,” Isaac told him, standing so he could get the pants all the way on. He tried to tuck his shirt in the way it had been before but he couldn’t figure it out without it looking funny. But then, Isaac thought he looked funny anyway. “I think they’re going to kick me out of the academy when they read my tests.” 

He’d had one in history yesterday. He hadn’t remembered anything. 

“Marks on paper aren’t what tell you if you’re smart,” Turner said, taking Isaac’s hands away from his clothes and fixing them for him. “You managed to make me feel better about marrying Gloria in two seconds. That seems smart to me.”

Isaac smiled while Turner did up the laces on his pants, then moved up to the ones on his shirt. He really wanted someone to tell him why fancy clothes needed so many laces. And lace, also, he was pretty sure there was lace on his cuffs. “Sex will do that too.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Turner smiled back and gave Isaac a kiss on the mouth before stepping back. “You’re very handsome.”

“I look stupid. _You’re_ handsome.” Turner was, in his green coat and his knee-high boots. He looked like he might duel someone, or something. 

“I think that argument is how you ended up taking your clothes off in the first place.”

“I don’t mind taking them off again.”

“We should probably go back to the party,” Turner said, running a finger along Isaac’s chin. “Thanks.”

“Thank you,” Isaac said, taking Turner’s hand and holding it. “You could always come find me at the academy if you want.”

“I might just do that someday. Don’t forget to put your boots back on.” 

“I think I can remember. You should go out first so we don’t look like we’re coming out together.” Isaac wouldn’t have minded looking like they were coming out together, but he knew that people had to keep up appearances. Especially when the girl they were marrying was outside. 

Turner nodded, hesitated, and leaned in for one last kiss before heading for the door. “See you later, Isaac.”

“See you.” Isaac stood there for a long minute, watching the door after Turner had left. He was a nice guy. Isaac hoped he didn’t spend his whole marriage being unhappy. After a minute he sighed, shook himself and put his boots back on. The banquet wasn’t over yet. 

The sitting down and eating food part of the banquet had been essentially what Isaac had expected, which was to say that it had been sitting down and eating a lot of fancy looking food that Isaac had never seen before while trying desperately not to spill anything on his expensive clothes and subtly elbowing Peter ever few minutes to make sure he was eating with the right fork. Isaac had eaten a bit too much but now that they were in the standing around and talking part of the night, he was finding lots of ways to work off all the excess energy that the food had given him. Before meeting Turner, he’d entertained three young kitchen servants for a while; he’d been after three helpings of desert but once he’d gotten those, two of them had wandered away to go back to work and missed the main course between Isaac and the third guy, whose name was Gene. 

That was when Isaac had realized that he didn’t know how the clothes he was wearing worked and couldn’t put them back on properly. Good thing Turner had shown up to help him with them or he’d have had to wander into the banquet hall half-dressed and get Peter to do it in front of everyone. Peter was basically saving Isaac’s life at this stupid thing. 

The hall was a long room with a high ceiling filled with people, tables lining the walls. On one side there were tall windows overlooking the castle grounds, and on the other there was just wall with some curtains up on a second floor that blocked something from view. Isaac saw Turner talking to a curly-haired blonde girl off to one side and smiled at him, but searched until he found Peter, heading that way instead. 

“Hey,” he said, taking Peter’s hand briefly. 

“Hey, you’re back in here, and dressed, even.” Peter smiled at him, leaning a little on his cane. “You’re not exhausted already, are you?”

Isaac coloured a little. He may or may not have foolishly made a bet with Peter—and Nicholas, grudgingly—about how many people he could be with at the banquet. Nicholas had bet some pocket money. Peter had bet something a lot more fun. 

“Of course not.” Isaac grinned. “Just taking a breather.”

“Good, I wouldn’t want you to miss out on your prize.” Peter just sipped at his cup, looking around the room now. He wouldn’t tell Isaac what the prize was. 

“I’m good at winning, don’t worry,” Isaac told him, looking around to see what Peter was looking at. He didn’t see anything interesting. A few people he wouldn’t mind seeing more of, though. “I do feel bad for leaving you out here with Nicholas, though.” 

“Don’t.” Peter smiled at him. “Nicholas is doing his own thing somewhere and I’m enjoying watching all the politics that are happening.” 

“What politics?” Isaac didn’t know what politics looked like, but he didn’t see any happening in amongst all the noble people gossiping and drinking. Diana was talking to some fat nobleman with a bald spot, and Yancy with a sort of scary-looking lady in a wicked black dress. The archmage was talking to the queen, but Isaac’s eyes moved past them so that he didn’t have to contemplate the fact that he was in the same room as the queen even though he’d sort of met her not that long ago.

He was much more willing to think about the fact that he was in the same room as the queen’s very handsome son, who was over there wrapping up a chat with some lady in a blue dress. 

“Just watching who’s walking to who, and who’s not talking to who, that sort of thing,” Peter said. “But you’re not listening anymore now that you’ve noticed the prince again, are you?”

“Isn’t he pretty?” Isaac asked, trying not to be super obvious about watching him. 

“Not as pretty as you.”

Peter said it so casually that it was a second before Isaac heard it, and he turned back to Peter, oddly warm at that. “You either.”

Peter smiled. “Go talk to him.”

Isaac’s stomach did a strange dance at that. “Am I allowed to just go talk to the prince?”

“Sure. I mean, if you’re not, his bodyguards will jump on you before you get too close, so you’ll know.”

Isaac narrowed his eyes, trying to look around the room for bodyguards. “I don’t see any.” There were some castle guards, and some knights, were those the same thing?

“Then you’re fine. Probably.” Peter was still smiling. “Come on, we both know you want to talk to him. It’s not like you to be shy.”

“I guess.” Gavin had been there when the archmage had presented the three of them to the king—which had been terrifying—but he hadn’t said anything. He’d just looked kind of curious. 

“He’s nice. I talked to him for a few minutes earlier.”

“You did?” Isaac looked from Peter to the prince, who was now talking to an old man who Isaac thought was the High Presbyter. 

Peter nodded. “Seems like your type.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Isaac nodded, smiling. “I’m glad I have you to help me. You know my tastes so well, Peter.”

That got him a chuckle from Peter. “It’s kind of fun just…letting you loose on a room like this. I think you’re going to have to wait now—Gavin’s going to be stuck talking to Jerome for a while.”

The High Presbyter did look like the kind of old man who would go on a bit. Isaac sighed. “I’ll keep an eye on him. He already looks bored.” Isaac would be bored if a priest tried to start talking to him at length, he knew that for sure. 

“Why not warm up with him?” Peter asked, nodding Isaac towards a southerner who until a minute ago had been talking to the princess and was now just breaking off from another southerner. He cut a very fine-looking figure in the dark green coat and breeches that he was wearing, much darker than Turner’s. He was wearing one of those bows that fancy people wore tied around his neck, which was dark purple and looked very cute. 

Isaac took a moment, trying to remember his name. “That’s, um…”

“Franz. The Kyainese prince who’s going to marry Princess Gabrielle.”

“Right.” Isaac wondered how Peter kept all of it straight. He probably knew who everyone here was. “He’s very handsome, isn’t he?”

Peter laughed. “Yes, he is. Go talk to him instead of staring.”

Isaac blushed, looked down at his feet for a second. “Thanks, Peter. You’re the best.”

“I know.” Peter patted Isaac on the back and went over to a table, where an old man in green was considering the wine. 

He really was quite something, Isaac thought. He wondered if this was what dating people was normally like. Even if it wasn’t, it was working out okay so far. 

With a smile to himself, Isaac headed over and, rallying his confidence, approached the southern prince. “Good evening, your Highness,” he said, with a bit of an awkward bow. Isaac wasn’t sure that it was possible to bow without being awkward. 

“Good evening, ah…” Franz trailed off for a minute, making a bit of a face. “I’m terribly sorry, I know we just met earlier, but…”

“Isaac, your Highness.” Isaac smiled at him. 

“Right, of course. My apologies.” The prince offered Isaac a hand and Isaac clasped it, another thing that people did that Isaac thought was weird. But apparently it was part of the arcane system of manners that both Peter and Oliver claimed Isaac was bad at, so he let it happen.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you have more important things to think about than the names of every random person you meet,” Isaac told him. 

“No, the people I meet are the most important thing I have to think about,” Franz assured him, letting go of Isaac’s hand after what seemed to Isaac like a really long time. “There are just a lot of them sometimes, that’s all. How are you liking the party?”

“It’s a little fancier than what I’m used to,” Isaac admitted, looking around at all the fanciness that was everywhere. “I feel like I’m going to break something by accident and get beheaded or something.”

Franz laughed at him. “Don’t worry, if that was cause for beheading, I’d be a good few inches shorter already. The north is a good deal more civilized than I’d been led to believe—they only whip people for breaking things up here.” 

“Oh…”

“A joke, Isaac.”

“Y-yeah.” Isaac chuckled a little. It was funny. “Right. So…is it true that it’s even hotter where you’re from than here?”

Franz nodded, looking for just a moment over Isaac’s shoulder before directing his attention back to Isaac. “It is. This far too hot summer that everyone complained about for months was normal as far as I was concerned. If anything, it could have been warmer.”

“Oh, God, no thank you, I was melting as it was,” Isaac said with a shake of his head. “There are only so many clothes I can take off.” 

“Yes, decency does have its downsides, doesn’t it?”

Isaac quirked a grin for the prince. “Decency? No, I meant that I ran out of clothes after a while.” 

The laugh that got him was a lot more abrupt and real sounding than the last one. “Oh, dear. You must have been quite a sight at the academy in the summer. The amazing naked chosen one.”

“I might have been,” Isaac said with a shrug. “Do you like sightseeing, your Highness?”

Franz’s eyebrows went up at that. He would have had to have been pretty dense not to hear what Isaac was asking there. “Not something I’ve had a lot of time for, I’m afraid. I’ve been hoping I could take a visit to your academy, though. I’ve heard…” 

Franz was interrupted by the appearance of a very cute noble boy whose hair was cut very short. Wearing black and white, he looked mysterious in a way that made Isaac want to solve him. “Hey,” he said quietly to Franz. He sounded worried. “Sorry to interrupt. I need you for a minute.”

Something must have passed between them that Isaac missed, because Franz suddenly looked worried about something. “Okay.” He turned back to Isaac. “I’m sorry, I’ve got something to attend to. Maybe we could talk more later.”

“Sure, of course.” Isaac nodded, stepped back a little. “Thanks for your time, your Highness.”

Franz nodded at him and he and the mystery noble hurried off into the crowd, doing a very good job of not looking concerned. Isaac wondered what was going on. Maybe it was some of those invisible politics that Peter had been watching. 

With that attempt having failed, Isaac refocused on his main goal for the moment. Gavin was clearly trying to disengage from the High Presbyter, and Isaac wandered over, approaching them from the side. 

The High Presbyter was droning on about something. “…have always been people worried about the Leader, just as there have always been people hopeful for the messiah’s return. I am of the opinion that the prophecies speak to the far future, your Highness, and not the present day. Besides, there is no need to fear, surely such events will be heralded by momentous announcements from God, of which we have had none. All of this fervour that has been frothing will die down in a short time as it always does. In the meantime, it is best to focus our spirits on the heavens, and pray for the eternal deliverance of humanity through the grace of God…”

“Excuse me, your Holiness,” Isaac said, since Gavin looked ready to poke his eyes out. He pointed across the banquet hall. The High Presbyter stopped mid-speech, looking at Isaac, slightly aghast. “I’m very sorry to interrupt you. Someone over there needed to talk to you and asked me to come find you. She said it was something about, um…I don’t really remember, meeting someone who said they were an angel, or something?”

As Isaac had expected, the High Presbyter’s face got a little blotchy for a moment, then he sighed loudly. “I’m terribly sorry, your Highness. I’m afraid I must take my leave and save a soul from grave error. Again.”

“Of course, your Holiness,” Gavin said politely, giving him a fractional bow. He was holding in a smile. “Best of luck.”

“God be with you, your Highness. And thank you, lad.” The High Presbyter took off, huffing across the room looking for someone committing heresy. 

Gavin turned to Isaac, that grin spreading across his face, lighting it up. “I could kiss you.”

Isaac grinned too. That was something he liked to hear. “Right here in front of everyone?”

A laugh. “What was that about? Meeting angels?”

“I go to school with his grandnephew. Neil told me that there’s nothing that makes his granduncle angrier than people who think that angels look like humans.” Isaac shrugged. “Seems like a funny thing to get mad about, but hey.” He would have to tell Neil next time he saw him that he’d been able to use that random piece of information that he’d shared while they’d been cuddling on Peter’s bed the other day. 

“I’m going to remember that,” Gavin said, eyes narrowing after the High Presbyter. “You’re Isaac, right?”

“That’s me, your Highness.” Isaac gave another awkward bow. “Sorry for interrupting you.”

“No, thank you for saving me from him. I shouldn’t need constant saving from the man who’s supposed to be saving my soul, but God.”

“Have you considered the possibility that you might be a heretic, your Highness?”

Gavin gave Isaac this look that was somewhere in the vicinity of amusement. “I could have you arrested for that.”

It was a joke, Isaac told himself. “Aw, after all I’ve done for you?”

Now Gavin chuckled a little. “You remind me of someone, you know.” 

“Should I be insulted?” Isaac asked. “I like to think I’m pretty unique.” 

“He’s my favourite person, so it’s a compliment.” 

“I like compliments.” Isaac put on a grin. “So, you live here? What’s that like?”

Gavin glanced around the room, kind of shrugged. “Like living in a big house. It’s probably not that much different than your academy.”

“It is,” Isaac assured him, also looking around. Gavin’s eyes had rested for a moment on Franz, who was now talking to a broad-shouldered redhead in the silliest outfit Isaac had seen all night. “You have more than three colours to decorate in, for one. Plus everything looks important instead of just pretending to be important like at the academy. I’d love a tour of it sometime.”

“Is that what it’s like? I’ve never been.” Gavin smiled, and ignored that last part of Isaac’s comment. “Probably I should see what it’s like, but I worry I’d be in the way.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t be.” Isaac told him, moving a little closer to Gavin. “I think the academy makes everyone feel that way though. I feel like I’m in the way and I live there.” 

Gavin seemed to have noticed Isaac moving in, but he was just smiling at him in a way that was kind of hard to read. Isaac chose to read it as encouragement. “Isn’t there a whole prophecy about how you’re meant to be there?” 

Isaac shrugged. “Prophecies are bullshit.” 

“That’s an interesting perspective from someone who stars as the main character in one.”

“Well, if you came to the academy, I could show you the library where you’ll find out that nobody actually knows what the prophecy says,” Isaac told him, smiling. 

“That’s a bit worrying,” Gavin said, a small frown on his face. “Maybe I should come by, see what it is that you people are really up to.”

“Well, I can’t speak for all mages, but I’m not up to anything sneaky.”

“I see that.” Again, Gavin’s tone was hard to read, but it was clear that he knew what Isaac was getting at. 

“I could even give you a tour, if you want,” Isaac pressed, preparing to reach out and casually brush Gavin’s hand. “There’s a lot to see at the academy.” 

Gavin looked up from Isaac suddenly. “I was wondering how long it would take you to find me,” he said, and Isaac looked over to see the redhead Franz had been talking to a few minutes ago. He was much bigger up close. And much cuter, in a sort of lumbering way. That overly fancy coat and huge, ridiculous bow didn’t suit him at all. Maybe he was Gavin’s bodyguard.

“Were you hiding?” Redhead asked, handing Gavin a wineglass. 

“Not really.” Gavin took it, nodded at Isaac. “This is Isaac. He’s one of the chosen ones. He’s trying to get me to sleep with him.”

Well, at least Isaac had been right that Gavin had known. He could tell from the looks these two were sharing that he’d been wasting his time, though. If this guy was a bodyguard, he was doing a lot more with Gavin’s body than just guarding it. Isaac clasped hands with Gavin’s partner, tried to pretend he wasn’t worried about having his fingers broken when he squeezed. “How many dragons have you killed?” the redhead asked. 

“Uh…none,” Isaac informed him, wondering where that was coming from. 

“Then you don’t have a chance, sorry. Gavin’s hard to impress.” With a smirk, the redhead let go of Isaac’s hand. Isaac kind of vaguely wished he’d put those strong hands somewhere else. 

“This is Owen, Isaac,” Gavin told him, sounding amused for real now. “He’s the reason why you’re going to be unsuccessful.” 

“Aw.” Isaac crossed his arms, looking at the two of them. They were a really pretty couple when taken together. Even if Owen was dressed like someone who had only ever seen pictures of clothes. “That’s…you two are really unfair. Keeping each other from the rest of the world.” Maybe Isaac could talk them into letting him into their bed for a night or something. 

“Sorry,” Owen said. He was lying, Isaac was pretty sure. 

“Well.” Isaac shrugged, trying not to sigh too dramatically. He put on his grin at both of them. “If you two are ever interested in a third person, just for one night, you know. Let me know. Otherwise I’ll stop bugging you.” 

“No need to run away,” Gavin told him, as Isaac started to retreat. Now he sounded a bit apologetic. 

“Who’s running?” Isaac grinned at Gavin to show he had no hard feelings. “I’ve got to find someone to give me that tour of the castle.” He bowed a little and backed away, looking around the room to figure out where he should go. Peter was his go-to but he was over there talking to some guy in grey coat, but that cute mystery boy who’d taken Franz away from him earlier was by himself, so Isaac set his trajectory. 

The boy saw him coming and smiled as Isaac approached. “You move quickly,” he said before Isaac could say anything. “From Turner to Franz to Gavin to me in half an hour.”

Isaac blinked, cocking his head a little. “Have you been watching me?”

“It’s hard not to. Your determination is impressive. I hope you were nice to Turner. He’s a good friend of mine.” 

“I’m nice to everyone,” Isaac told him. “He was nice to me.” 

“Of course he was. He’s always nice.” There was a bit of a barb in the boy’s voice at that, but he covered it with a smile. “I’m Hector.”

“Isaac.” Hector didn’t offer his hand and Isaac didn’t either. Someone else who understood how weird it was. 

“I know.” Hector looked past Isaac for a second, nodding at someone, before returning his attention to Isaac. “So what, is it my turn now? My name is on top of your list now that you got shot down by Gavin?”

Isaac coloured a little. He wasn’t used to other people being so direct. “It’s not like that. I’m not putting notches in a belt. This is just my favourite way of meeting new people.”

Hector looked at him kind of funny. “That’s an interesting approach to life.”

“It works for me.” Isaac shrugged. “Hey, I’m not forcing anyone. I also like talking to people.” Even if it wasn’t his main goal for the evening. 

“Well, I like…” Hector trailed off, looking off to the side just as a girl their age in a blue dress—not the lady Gavin had been talking with earlier by similar looking, maybe a daughter or younger sister—joined them. Isaac wondered what it must be like to be like Hector and constantly have an eye on everyone. “Good evening, Susanna.”

“You too, Hector. Sorry to interrupt.” Susanna smiled at Isaac briefly. “I need to talk to you for a second.”

“About what?” Hector asked, in a way that made Isaac think he already knew. 

“Cattle farmers. Sorry,” she said to Isaac. “I’ll bring him back.”

“I can wait,” Isaac promised. Hector gave him an apologetic smile as he was dragged away, and Isaac waved after him. 

Three in a row he’d missed out on now. Isaac was getting a little frustrated. He turned around to go look for something to eat while he gathered his wits, and nearly ran right into Nicholas. “Woah. You’re better at lurking than you seem.” 

“And you’re not as observant as you could be,” Nicholas told him, giving Isaac a look. 

“That was an opportunity for you to joke back at me, Nicky,” Isaac said, not rudely. He was dressed very nicely, though Isaac thought he would fit in at a funeral. Though Maybe Isaac would too in his sombre, tight-fitting grey. 

“Stop calling me that,” Nicholas muttered, looking away for a second. “It’s a little boy’s name.”

“I assume you were a little boy once.” Isaac crossed his arms, peered at Nicholas. “Unless you just emerged into the world, a fully-formed mass of grump.” 

“I grew up, Isaac. Some people do that.” 

Isaac smiled at him, and he reached out and patted Nicholas on the arm. “You must be really bored if all you have to do at this fancy party is wander over and insult me.” 

“It has gone on a lot longer than I thought it would,” Nicholas admitted, with a small sigh. “We never had parties like this in my village back home.”

“Mine either.” Isaac looked around the room again. Cameron and the archmage were talking to some lady who looked like she was trying not to kill both of them. Isaac wondered who she was. He also wondered if Cameron had actually been invited to the banquet or if she’d just shown up. He was pretty sure it was the latter. 

Yancy was pontificating a bit at a bored-looking nobleman, and Elijah and Christopher were chatting up the lady who Isaac thought was Hector’s mother. Irene and Oliver had been cornered by the High Presbyter, which Isaac felt bad about. Diana was with Franz’s southerner friend and Peter was talking to the blue-gowned noble lady Gavin had been with before in an animated way that Isaac thought was put on even from across the room. Gavin was with his sister and the king and queen, Owen with the scary lady and Franz was with Turner and an old man. Turner’s fiancé was laughing with a guy whose drunkenness had taken him off Isaac’s list a while ago and Hector and Susanna had disappeared. Gene was putting out plates by the back wall and Isaac turned back to Nicholas, feeling perfectly observant, thank you very much. “Nobody looks tired, even.”

“No.” Nicholas sighed. “And we have class in the morning.”

“Don’t remind me.” Of all things, Isaac didn’t need to be reminded of Hugo’s history class. 

“Fair enough. So…who’s next?”

Isaac gave Nicholas a look. “You?” He laughed at the face Nicholas made. “I’m joking, I heard you just fine when you told me you didn’t want to.”

Nicholas’s face had coloured a little. “Good,” he mumbled. “I don’t.”

“Let me know if you change your mind, though.” Isaac still wanted to give Nicholas that blowjob someday and his refusal just then hadn’t been quite as categorical as the first time.

“I just wanted to know if I’ve already lost my pocket money or not.”

Isaac chuckled. “Not yet, but soon. I actually might go for a walk, the room’s getting a bit stuffy.” There were a lot of people in here. Which was nice, but Isaac could do to be away from a lot of people for a couple of minutes.

“That better not be a joke about me.”

It hadn’t been. Isaac patted Nicholas’s hand. “Let’s pretend it wasn’t.”

“You should go for that walk.”

“Fun talk, Nicholas.”

“As usual, I’m left wondering why I bothered.”

“Then my work here is done. See you later.” Isaac patted him again and headed for the doors of the banquet hall, through which lay the large hallway they’d come through to get in. Isaac remembered seeing it guarded and he’d noticed at the time that it was patrolled by knights and their squires. Some of the squires were cute. One of them was Leo. 

Isaac wondered if Leo was still out there. His walk became a mission. 

The carpet here was so soft that Isaac couldn’t even hear his footsteps as he made his way down the empty hallway. There was nobody around at the moment except some not very fun looking guards at some corners. Isaac wondered if they were just there because there were always guards or if it was because fancy parties were inherently dangerous. If he had been a murderer, he probably wouldn’t go so far as to sneak into a castle and kill someone. There had to be an easier way to go about it.

There was nobody interesting to look at so Isaac looked around at the castle instead. It was huge in a way that made it hard to breathe, and pretty in a way that must have made it impossible to live in. Isaac could barely stomach living at the academy, and that because the dormitory had normal walls and rooms. How could someone like Gavin grow up here and not go insane? Isaac felt like he could walk all day in this ornate hallway and never see another person. Hallways didn’t need to be ornate, as far as Isaac was concerned. All they were for was walking through to get to rooms that mattered. And yet this one had vases and flowers and paintings in it. 

It was a bit much. 

Isaac heard a faint clanking of metal before he saw anyone, and a second later a young knight came around a nearby corner, looking up when he saw Isaac. Isaac recognized him—the freckles all over his face made it easy. He didn’t know his name, but Isaac had seen him one day while out with Oliver. 

“Good evening, sir,” the knight said to him, seeing Isaac watching him.

“Oh, God.” Isaac scowled. “Don’t call me that. You’ll make me feel important or something.” 

The knight—actually, Isaac guessed he was someone’s squire, he was Isaac’s age—laughed. He had a pretty laugh. “My apologies. What should I call you, then?”

“Isaac is fine.”

“I’m Ty.” Ty gave him a salute, which Isaac found very charming. He wasn’t Leo, but he was cute. “Bored with the party?”

“Just thought I’d take in the sights in the castle,” Isaac told him, not hiding the look he was giving Ty. “Finally I found one worth looking at.” 

“I have a feeling you didn’t come out here to look at paintings.” Ty was returning the look, which surprised Isaac a little. Maybe knights were all into guys. Maybe he should have been a knight. Not that he wasn’t doing okay for himself at the academy. But there was a certain something about boys in armour. 

“Not really. Do those freckles of yours go all the way down?”

Ty smirked at him, licking at his lips a bit. “You want to find out?”

That had been easy. “Can I find out what they taste like while I’m at it?”

“I know where there’s an empty room.” Ty gestured and Isaac followed after him, to a nearby door that sure enough, hid a room that didn’t seem to have anything in it. Isaac wondered what it was for, but not as much as he wondered how much of that armour Ty planned to take off. 

“You always go around randomly propositioning people?” Ty asked him, as he closed the door behind Isaac. Some windows let in light from outside, but he quickly lit a lamp for them as well. Isaac could have made a light, but Ty was being such a gentleman that he didn’t bother. 

“I do when I can tell they aren’t going to need convincing,” Isaac told Ty, pulling him forward and kissing him lightly, just to test. Ty didn’t stop him. “You always accept random propositions from strangers?”

“I do when I can tell they know what they’re doing.” Ty pulled back a little, smiling at Isaac. 

“So how far down?” Isaac asked. 

“Pretty far,” Ty told him, and to demonstrate he reached down, undoing his belt. He was wearing plate armour and greaves on his legs, but nothing above his knees but regular white breeches and though it looked like a bit of a chore to navigate a belt around that, Ty managed to get it undone and loosen his pants. Without loosening the belt holding his sword up, which Isaac was impressed by.

“The armour doesn’t come off?” Isaac asked, hopeful.

“Sorry, it’s more trouble than it looks to put back on after.” 

“Fine.” Isaac sighed, and he got down on his knees. “Sometime we’ll have to see each other again. I want to see you naked.” He could just imagine Ty laying on a bed or something, freckles on full display. It was a nice picture in Isaac’s mind, and he bet it was nicer in the real world. 

“Sometime we will,” Ty promised, pushing his breeches down to his thighs, and his smallclothes with them. 

The freckles went all the way down. They weren’t as numerous on Ty’s thighs and groin as they were on his face, but they were there. He even had a few on his swelling dick. Isaac smiled up at Ty as he took that in his hand. “Bet I’m not the only one who’s ever asked to see these.” 

Ty grinned. “And I bet I’m not the only one who’s popular.”

“Let’s see what they taste like,” Isaac said, and he took Ty into his mouth. 

They tasted mostly like sweat, as it turned out, but that wasn’t surprising in this heat and Isaac liked it anyway as he suckled gently on Ty until he got to full hardness, then started bobbing up and down on him, sucking harder. 

Ty made little grunting noises as Isaac sucked on him, letting Isaac know he was enjoying it. Isaac made his own noises back, of contentment and satisfaction, so Ty would know he was liking it too. Ty’s hands ended up on Isaac’s shoulders, grabbing him. He had a strong grip, and Isaac liked having it there as he let Ty slide in and out of his mouth. 

After a few minutes Ty’s grunting got more sustained and Isaac smiled, going down to swallow just as Ty started to cum, filling his mouth. Swallow Isaac did, all of it, until Ty’s sagged a bit in front of him. Isaac pulled off and looked up, wiping some drool off his mouth. “If you’re going to fall over, fall backwards please.” 

Ty snickered a little. “Or I could just…” and he dropped to his knees, and he leaned in and kissed Isaac. “Aw, there’s hardly any of me left in there,” he said when he broke away. 

“If you wanted me to share you should have said so at the beginning,” Isaac said with a giggle. He liked Ty. 

“That’s okay, I’ll just get my own. Stand up.” 

“Oh, I like where this is going.” Isaac tried not to expect much in the way of reciprocation from partners who he didn’t know. He liked blowing people and he liked letting people fuck him, enough that he didn’t mind if he had to jerk himself off after he was done. But not having to do that was nice too. 

Isaac stood, wincing a little as his erection strained at his tight pants. Ty reached up and started to unlace them with deft hands. “You’d better know how to put this stupid outfit back together again after, because I don’t,” Isaac complained. 

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Ty muttered, quickly finishing Isaac’s laces and tugging his pants down, smallclothes and all. He already had his hand on Isaac as he was doing that and he leaned forward and started sucking on Isaac without any hesitation at all.

“Mmmm….that’s nice, Ty.” Isaac told him, closing his eyes and enjoying the sparks that ran through his body. Ty had a warm mouth, a nice tongue. He had his hand on Isaac’s inner thigh as he worked, rubbing him for stimulation. He had practice at this. 

But he pulled back a second later. “What’s this?” he asked. He was holding up the pair of folded smallclothes Isaac had had tucked in the back of his other pair. “For emergencies?”

Isaac smiled down at him. “For avoiding stains on the back of my pants.”

Ty cocked a grin, and his hand went up the back of Isaac’s thigh and into his crack, pulling his cheeks apart a bit. Isaac felt some of Turner’s cum slide down, and Ty caught it on his finger, bringing it back around and looking at it. And he put the finger in his mouth, sucking it clean as he looked back up and Isaac. “Good thinking. Now, who put that there?”

“Someone,” Isaac told him, coy. “You want to put some there too?” Ty was still hard down there. 

“You bet I do. But let me get my taste of this first,” Ty said with a smile, and he went back down on Isaac, this time wrapping his arm around Isaac’s backside and pushing two fingers inside of him slowly but without hesitation.

Those fingers went deeply into Isaac, making him squirm where he stood as Turner’s cum started to run down Ty’s fingers and Ty went farther down onto him until Isaac was in his throat. “Oh, God, Ty…”

Ty started making noise now, little sounds like what Isaac had been making before, sending vibrations through his throat and onto Isaac, increasing the sparks that were flying all through Isaac’s body. Ty’s fingers touched Isaac in the right spot all of the sudden and that was that, Isaac clenched around Ty and balled his hands into fists, letting all his breath into his cry as he let Ty have him. 

Ty swallowed it all as well and he pulled his fingers out of Isaac as he stood, leaning in for another kiss. Isaac tasted the faintest hint of himself in there, but Ty had swallowed pretty efficiently. “You’re good at that,” Isaac said, smiling at him. 

“You’re not the only one who gets lots of practice.” Ty smirked at Isaac, pressing his erection into Isaac’s. “Ready for me to contribute to your collection?”

Isaac had just cum but he would never have known it looking at his erection if he hadn’t lived through it. He nodded. “Let me get these stupid pants the rest of the way off.”

“I can help with that.” Ty helped Isaac push them down and step out of them, undoing Isaac’s boots for him. Isaac took the time to divest himself of the shirt too, tossing it aside so he was naked for Ty. “You’re quite the vision, aren’t you?”

“Why thank you, noble sir. Will you ravish me now?”

“Turn around.” 

Isaac did, and he put his hands on the wall as Ty grabbed him from behind, the cold metal of his plate armour pressing against Isaac’s back as, in one movement, he slid right into Isaac like he’d always been there. “You must be having a lot of fun at this party if this is what you’re spending it doing,” Ty whispered in Isaac’s ear. 

“I could stand around and eat fancy cheese, but that seems boring,” Isaac murmured, clenching around Ty a little. “You going to do anything with that sword of yours? Or do they not teach you what to do with it after you stab someone?”

“Oh, they teach us,” Ty promised, and he slid back out, then back in. “Slow or fast?”

“Faster than that, fuck.” 

“Faster?” Ty asked, doing it again, picking up speed.

Isaac nodded, eyes closed. “Yeah.”

“How’s this?” He gave a hard thrust and hit Isaac just right. 

“Fuck!” Isaac breathed in, riding out the shock of pleasure that had sent through him. “Do that again and you can do as fast or slow as you want.”

“Perfect. I do have duty to get back to, so it’s going to be fast.”

“Fine with me.”

Ty kissed Isaac’s neck. And started fucking him, harder than he’d been before. He pounded into Isaac, seeming determined to take his breath away as their hips slapped together again and again. Isaac would have been happy to spend the whole evening like this, just like this against the wall with Ty. 

Ty stopped suddenly, and Isaac opened his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Guess we were a bit loud.” Ty said, and when Isaac looked over at him to see what he was talking about, he definitely did see. Another knight, or squire, standing near the doorway. Blonde, long-limbed, he was a little taller than Ty. “Hey, Edwin.”

“Hey.” Edwin didn’t sound that perturbed to have walked in on his friend fucking Isaac. That, Isaac decided, was a good sign. “Slacking off on duty?”

“Yeah, want to help?”

“Yeah, I can cover you for a few minutes.” Edwin sighed as he said that. “Just came in to tell you to be quieter.”

Ty’s hands tightened a little on Isaac’s waist. “Isaac, this is my buddy Edwin.”

“Nice to meet you,” Isaac told him, still awkwardly trying to look over his shoulder. 

“Hi.” Edwin may not have been too fussed, but he obviously didn’t really know what to say. 

Fortunately Ty knew what to say. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

Isaac nodded. “Yeah, he is.” He kind of wanted Edwin to come closer to he could get a better look.

“You want to give him a taste?”

Isaac blinked, and his mouth split into a grin. “You don’t mind sharing?”

“Nah, we’re good friends and besides, I owe him a favour. Come here, Edwin. Isaac’s hungry.” With strength that impressed Isaac, Ty managed to swing them both around so that his back was against the wall and Isaac was on display for Edwin, without ever pulling his cock out of Isaac. 

With his better view of Edwin, Isaac could see that he had a crooked smile, needed to grow his hair out a bit and was pitching a tent in those tight white pants of his. “Starving,” he assured Edwin with an inviting smile. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any snacks on you?”

That crooked grin grew, and Edwin stepped forward, fumbling with his belt. He wasn’t as deft as Ty had been, but by the time he’d reached Isaac, he had his pants down and his cock out and in hand. “Ty tells me mine tastes better than his.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Isaac promised, glancing at Ty as he bent down, taking Edwin in his hand, then in his mouth when he got close enough. Edwin’s hands came down to support Isaac at the shoulders, and Ty gave a hard thrust in, which pushed Isaac all the way down onto Edwin in one go.

Edwin didn’t taste better than Ty, just different, a little less salty. Less like he’d already cum that evening, Isaac thought distantly. Ty picked up his rhythm again, pushing Isaac down onto Edwin again and again, and Isaac relaxed his throat and let Edwin in, grabbing Edwin by the butt cheeks to encourage him to thrust with Ty’s rhythm even as Isaac bucked his own hips to it, helping all three of them pick up speed. 

Isaac moaned around Edwin’s cock as Ty rammed into him, and his noises filled the air, intermingled with the ones Edwin and Ty were making. He lost track of how long they went like that, but after some time, Edwin cried out and with his balls on Isaac’s chin, shot hot streamers right down his throat. 

When he was finished, Ty stopped his assault long enough to let Isaac off of Edwin and stand him back up, arms around Isaac as he smiled at Edwin, thrusting gently for the moment. “See…” he panted. “Told you he tasted better…”

“I’d need…another few taste tests before I make that…decision.” Isaac managed, voice a little hoarse. 

“Let me know whenever you want to do them,” Edwin told him, carefully getting down on his knees in front of Isaac and taking Isaac’s bobbing dick in hand. “Because that was amazing.” And he took Isaac in his mouth without any more preamble.

“Ah…so polite…”

“Knights are courteous,” Edwin popped off to mutter, but that was all he said as he went back to blowing Isaac. 

Ty picked up speed again as Isaac got settled in Edwin’s mouth, and Isaac forgot how to talk for a while as Ty went at him. It wasn’t long before Ty’s grip around Isaac’s chest tightened, and he started shooting inside Isaac with a sound against Isaac’s neck that sounded like a whinge. And though he slowed down a little as his cum started to run down Isaac’s thighs, he didn’t stop and didn’t soften. 

“So much energy…” Isaac breathed. It was all he could say. Edwin’s blow job was a work of art, he was doing something with his tongue that Isaac wished he was coherent enough to pay attention to.

“Runs in my family,” Ty muttered quietly against Isaac’s neck, as he gave one particularly hard thrust, hitting Isaac in just the right spot, and forced a swallowed shout out of Isaac as Isaac came into Edwin’s mouth without warning.

Edwin swallowed too, but he let some of it dribble down his chin and he pulled off, taking a breath. Now Ty stopped thrusting. “Should I stop?” he asked Isaac in a whisper. 

Isaac shook his head, looking down at Edwin. He held out his hand to help Edwin up. 

“Lots of stamina,” Ty said. 

Isaac managed a tired smile. “At my going away party back home I kept up with fifteen guys for half the night.”

“Nice,” Ty gave another hard thrust at that, and then picked up his rhythm again, though more slowly for now. “In that case, Edwin likes kissing.”

Edwin seemed to colour a little at that but he didn’t deny it, and Isaac tugged his hand to get him to come closer, and pressed his lips against Edwin’s. Edwin kissed back enthusiastically, taking control of the kiss and Isaac’s mouth, using that tongue of his to best effect in exploring Isaac. Isaac put an arm around him and pulled him closer, until he was sandwiched between Ty’s armour and Edwin’s, Ty’s thrusting grinding Isaac’s cock against Edwin’s as they kissed. 

That gave Isaac an idea and he pulled back from the kiss for a minute, touching foreheads with Edwin. “Do you want in?” he asked Edwin, who nodded.

“You want to switch?” Ty asked behind him.

Isaac shook his head. “I was thinking you guys could share.”

It was a slow reaction, but after a second or two both Ty and Edwin froze completely for a long moment. “Are you sure about that?” Edwin asked him. 

Isaac nodded. “It’ll be fun. I’ve never done it before, but I’ve thought about it. And now I’ve got you both here.” The math worked out as far as Isaac was concerned. He had two people who were obviously experienced at this and already knew each other. It worked out. 

“We don’t want to hurt you is all,” Ty said behind him. 

“Go slow, stretch me first, it’ll be fine.” Isaac looked at Edwin, who still looked indecisive. “If you don’t want to you can just take turns, that’s okay too. I just thought I’d suggest it.”

A long look passed between Ty and Edwin, and Isaac clenched around Ty just because. He wasn’t used to having this in-depth a conversation with a dick inside him. 

Finally though, Edwin smiled and he lifted his hand to suck on his own fingers for a second, before reaching down between Isaac’s legs, which Ty spread for him. “Tell me if it hurts.”

“Can do.”

The first finger was fine, even with Ty in there too Isaac had taken cocks bigger than that. The second one started to get tight, but Edwin moved them around slowly, watched Isaac’s face. All the cum inside him helped slick the process up significantly. The third finger, inserted slowly, was a bit trickier. It stung, in that way that Isaac liked but way more to a point where he didn’t like it much, and Isaac wriggled a bit as he tried to get used to it. “You okay?” Edwin asked. 

“Stings a bit,” Isaac reported, taking deep breaths. “Give me a second.”

A second was a few minutes, but eventually the sting abated for the most part and Isaac nodded and let Edwin move the fingers around. He couldn’t help but think that Ty must have the patience of a saint to just sit there, inside Isaac, Edwin’s fingers up against him, and not do more than hold him steady, breathing faster on his neck as the only indication that he wanted more. 

Finally, Isaac decided he was ready, and he nodded. “Do it.” 

“It’s going to hurt,” Edwin warned him.

“Only for a minute.” Isaac hoped.

“Okay.” Edwin took a deep breath and stepped forward. Ty’s hands were suddenly on Isaac’s thighs and he lifted both Isaac’s legs, supporting Isaac’s whole weight and spreading Isaac’s legs to give Edwin full access. Edwin closed his lips over Isaac’s again and pressed their bodies together, and then the his head was probing at Isaac’s entrance. 

Isaac let out a moan into Edwin’s mouth as Edwin entered him, slowly, so slowly. It hurt, it _hurt_ a lot more than Isaac had thought it would, but he knew it would pass in a minute or two, it would be okay once Edwin was all the way in. Edwin’s kiss made it better, gave Isaac something to focus on while Edwin pushed slowly but surely into him, and Ty was kissing his neck and whispering in his ear that it was almost in, and Isaac let himself get lost in that instead of the pain. 

It hurt, and it kept hurting, but it wasn’t getting worse, and then Edwin stopped moving and Isaac realized it was because he must be all the way in, and both of them just stood there and held and kissed Isaac, waiting for him to tell them it was okay. It was a long minute or so before the pain started to fade, before Isaac got used to the sensation, this fullness that was more than he’d ever felt before. 

The pain didn’t stop, not totally, but Isaac endured it long enough that it faded to a low hum in the background, and he was able to concentrate on the sensation of the two of them inside him. That part felt nice. He liked that a lot. He pulled back from Edwin’s kiss for a second. “You can move,” he said in a breathy whisper. “Just…slowly.”

Edwin nodded and started to move his hips, a little awkwardly. This would be easier, Isaac thought, if they were laying down instead of standing. He made a mental note to suggest that next time but he definitely wasn’t going to bring it up right now with Ty moving too. Both of them thrusting shallowly in and out of Isaac, their breathing hitting him, their mouths on him. Edwin kissed him sporadically, and so did Ty, all up his neck and down to his shoulder, sometimes on his ear or even the cheek when Isaac threw his head back. 

Isaac couldn’t find it in himself to talk or even to make noise beyond low whinges of need, heavy, breathy pants that didn’t seem to succeed in getting enough air into his lungs. His world shrunk to the three of them, Ty and Edwin pressing against him to either side, pressing into him, their metal armour on his naked skin, their mouths on his face and neck, their hands on his legs and their cocks inside him. Isaac’s whole body was on fire, a fire that was so good that it hurt, that hurt so much it was good, that Isaac didn’t ever want to stop.

The room was nothing but the smell of sweat and sex, the sound of breathing and exertion, the dim lamplight flickering over their intertwined forms. Ty and Edwin had found a rhythm, thrusting into Isaac in turn, one after the other in endless succession, grinding against one another. Suddenly that rhythm changed and both were thrusting into him at once, filling him deeper with every stroke, burying themselves inside Isaac. 

One of them came, Isaac wasn’t sure which one. Edwin was the one who tensed, hands tightening on Isaac’s legs, so maybe it was him. His thrusts picked up speed as he planted his seed inside Isaac, and Ty followed suit, groaning into Isaac’s neck as he finally started to give Isaac his own cum. Isaac felt it, felt them, felt their frantic slamming into him, felt everything, the fire on his skin, the lightning coursing through his veins, and Isaac exploded too with a soundless cry, body going stiff as he rode them and rode out his own ecstasy. 

Behind him Ty slumped, and there was an alarming shift as Isaac nearly fell, but Edwin caught him and the three of them somehow ended up on the floor in safe order. Edwin pulled out of Isaac first, and then helped Isaac off Ty as both of their cum ran out of Isaac, down Ty’s length and pooled in Ty’s lap. It kept running even after Isaac was off, down his legs, into a puddle on the floor that Isaac couldn’t bring himself to get worried about. “That was really good…” he said, speech a bit heavy. “I liked that. Let’s do that again.”

“I think you need a bit of a rest,” Ty told Isaac, smiling over at him. 

“Nah, I’m fine…I just need to lay here for a minute…” Or ten, maybe. He would be okay in a minute. Isaac knew from experience that he’d bounce back from this in not too much time. 

So he lay there for a minute, more oblivious to the world than he’d thought because when he opened his eyes again he didn’t remember closing them. He opened them again just in time to watch Edwin planting more seeds inside Ty, and he smiled at them. “No fair. You could have done that to me.” 

Edwin pulled out of his friend with a loud exhalation of breath, looking down at Ty with a fondness that Isaac recognized. “Don’t be greedy, Isaac.”

“Fine.” Isaac sighed, and with great effort, managed to sit up. Ty did the same, and for a moment they all sat and watched each other. 

“You should probably get dressed,” Ty told him after a second. 

“Don’t want to.” Isaac threw a scowl at his discarded clothes. 

“Too bad. Me and Edwin do have to get back to duty, as much as that sucks.”

Isaac sighed. “Okay. You’re so dutiful.”

“We are knights.”

“Yeah, you are.” Isaac smiled at them. “Do the dutiful thing and help me get dressed, would you?”

They did, and it took a minute but between the three of them they managed to get Isaac put back into his clothes in mostly the right way, and the two of them tucked themselves away to project respectability again. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Edwin said. 

“For the other thing too. I had a lot of fun.”

“So did we.” 

Isaac grinned, stretching a little. He was back on his feet now. Mostly. He was sore and was likely to stay that way for the rest of the night, but Isaac didn’t mind that. “I should let you get back to work. Sorry for being so…distracting.” He smirked at the two of them. 

“A distraction now and then never hurt anyone, right, Edwin?” Ty asked. He seemed to have mostly gotten his wind back as well. 

“It was a lot less boring than patrolling the hallways all night,” Edwin agreed, fiddling with his armour straps as if to make sure they were in place. “Which we do have to get back to.”

“Yeah.” Ty sighed. “Hopefully we’ll see you again sometime, Isaac.”

“Hopefully.” Isaac quickly gave Ty a kiss on the cheek, and then one to Edwin too. “Next time you’ll both be naked too,” he informed them. 

“I think that can be arranged.” Ty opened the door, and they let Isaac precede them into the hallway. “You heading back to the party?”

“Hm.” Isaac shrugged, looking down the hall. “Maybe in a bit. I was looking for a guy named Leo, I saw him earlier. I don’t suppose you know where I can find him?”

Edwin was looking at him with something like amazement on his face, and Ty’s face split into a smile. “You’re just going to sleep your way through the whole party, aren’t you?” Ty asked him.

“I wasn’t planning on sleeping.” Isaac patted Ty on the chest. 

“I think he’s upstairs. Go easy on him.”

“Don’t go easy on him, he can take it,” Edwin promised him. Ty raised an eyebrow. Edwin shrugged. Isaac had a feeling he was missing something. 

But he nodded, gave the two of them something that passed for a salute. “Thank you very much, noble knights. Have a good evening.” 

“You too.” Edwin snickered a little, saluted him back. “Do let us know if we can be of any help. We’re here to serve.”

“So I’ve noticed.” Isaac smiled and turned towards the stairs that he could see, taking them slowly when he saw how many there were. Edwin and Ty followed him and walked beyond, to patrol some other part of the castle, Isaac guessed. 

Being a knight seemed like it was kind of boring. Maybe it was a good thing Isaac had ended up a mage instead. All that honour and duty stuff wasn’t really his thing either. He felt like it would just get tiring. 

Might be worth it if they really were all sleeping with each other, though. There was a nice squelch between Isaac’s legs that he didn’t get to have very often. He liked it a lot. 

‘Upstairs’ turned out to be a pretty big place, with hallways that went in different directions. And it was just as decorative and impossible to live in as the downstairs, which was disappointing. Isaac had hoped that the crazy fanciness of the downstairs was just for show where people might see, but apparently the whole castle was like that. Which he guessed made sense, but it would have been nice if he could look into someone’s bedroom and see their socks on the floor or something, just to prove that the king and queen really were regular people. 

Gavin had seemed normal enough. Maybe he had socks on his floor. And maybe Isaac would get arrested if he tried to find out. Hell, maybe he’d be arrested for being in the wrong part of the castle, but Isaac choose to believe that Ty and Edwin would have warned him about that if it were a possibility, and turned right at an intersecting hallway confident that if nothing else, he’d be politely escorted downstairs if the ran into the wrong person. 

Fortunately, someone was looking out for him and he ran into the right person coming around the corner that the right hallway turned into. Leo looked surprised to see him there, but he smiled. “Isaac. Fancy meeting you here.” 

“Everything here is fancy,” Isaac said, before realizing that didn’t make any sense. “I was looking for you, actually. I saw you earlier.” 

“Oh yeah?” Leo cocked a smile. “Nice of you to come say hi. How’s your friend?”

“He’s okay.” Isaac wondered what Jacob was doing. He hadn’t been back to the academy yet since going to speak with his employer before. He wanted to ask how Jacob had known about him being a chosen one. “I saw him the other day.” 

“Good. What about the puppy?”

“He’s okay too. He thinks shoes are food.”

“Good, so it all worked out in the end. I’m glad.” 

Isaac nodded. “Yeah, it was good. You must be really bored wandering around the hallways all night.”

“A little, but hey.” Leo shrugged. “Someone has to make sure nobody sneaks in to kill all the rich people at their nice party, yeah? You must be really bored if you got dragged all the way here. All just boring people chatting to each other and whatnot.”

Isaac snorted a little laugh. “A little. I’ve been finding ways to entertain myself.” 

“Is that so? What kind of ways?”

Isaac gave a shrug. “You could ask Ty and Edwin. I just finished spending some time with them.” Judging by the way Edwin had talked about Leo, he had a feeling that he didn’t need to be circumspect here. 

The look on Leo’s face told Isaac that Leo knew what he was talking about. “Really? Good choice. I like Edwin and Ty.” 

“Me too.” Isaac smiled. “Maybe I could spend some time with you? If you’re not too busy, that is.”

“I can spare a few minutes,” Leo said, looking around. “Here, these rooms are empty.” There were three of them on the right side of the hallway, and Leo led Isaac to the farthest one. Inside was what looked like a storage room or something. There were chairs piled up against one wall and rolled up rugs against the other. The back wall opposite the door was just huge curtains. “If those were pulled back we’d be overlooking the banquet hall,” Leo told him, closing the door. It was gloomy in the room, but some light filtered through at the top of the curtains. 

“But instead they’re storing their extra carpets up here.” Isaac wandered over to them, kicked at the pile. Some dust went up. 

“I don’t know who has so many carpets that they have extras, but that’s what it looks like,” Leo agreed.

“People who don’t have socks on their floors,” Isaac muttered. 

“Here.” Leo stepped over the pile of carpets, into a small gap that was between them and the wall. He took Isaac’s shoulders and helped him over too, and smiled. “Not that I expect anyone to come in, but it’s a nice barrier in case they do.” 

“Now, Leo,” Isaac asked, innocently, putting his hands on Leo’s waist. “What do you think we need to hide from people who might come in? We’re just…spending time.”

“Right…” Leo’s hands travelled down, off Isaac’s arms and down his sides, resting at his middle. “Can I kiss you?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Chivalry?”

Isaac smirked. “Not all of us have that,” he said, and he leaned in and gave Leo a kiss. Leo kissed back. “You know, I usually have a really hard time getting boys to kiss me back.”

“Their loss,” Leo said, kissing Isaac some more. “You’re a good kisser.”

“So are you.” Leo’s lips were chapped and felt nice against Isaac’s. Isaac got a little lost in the kissing and his hands started to wander, though they couldn’t wander far thanks to Leo’s armour. He was going to have to do something about all these knights in armour. Leo’s hands were wandering too, down to Isaac’s waist. 

The door clicked and Leo pulled Isaac really suddenly so they both toppled down, Isaac landing on Leo behind the carpets. Annoyed, Isaac gave Leo a glare—what did they care if someone walked in? They hadn’t even taken any clothes off. But Leo just put a finger to his lips and gave Isaac a bit of a pleading look. Isaac supposed it would look bad if Leo were caught, so he relented, staying quiet.

Whoever was coming in the room wasn’t talking, though there were several of sets of footsteps. The door clicked shut and Isaac could hear them breathing, shuffling around. The curtains were adjusted a tiny bit, changing the light in the room just perceptibly. “It’s not ideal,” a man’s voice growled.

“It’s what we have.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s ideal.”

“No it doesn’t, but it does mean quit bitching.” The sharp intake of breath. “Crossbows. I want us all on our targets now. We’re on a fucking schedule here.”

 _Shit._ Isaac’s eyes had gone wide as he looked down at Leo, who was pale in the gloom. Leo’s hand had slid off Isaac and was down on the floor, near his sword. Isaac leaned down, put his lips to Leo’s ear. “What do we do?” he asked, as quietly as he possibly could. The room had filled with clacking sounds as, Isaac assumed, crossbows were assembled and loaded, which covered any noise his whisper made. 

“We have to get out of here,” Leo whispered back. 

“How?” There was no way they could get to the door without being noticed. If Isaac were better at magic he would be able to do something about all of them, but he wasn’t and he couldn’t. Maybe there was some way he could make it so that the people in the room wouldn’t see them, but if there was Isaac didn’t know it. 

“Move off me really slowly,” Leo said, totally still under Isaac. His breath was warm against Isaac’s ear. “And stay here. Run when I tell you.”

Isaac shook his head. “You can’t stay here alone.” It sounded like there were at least three or four of them. Leo couldn’t fight that many people no matter how good he was with his sword. 

“Yes I can,” Leo whispered. “It’s my duty. You need to get help.”

“My target isn’t in the room,” a new voice said. 

“Doesn’t matter. They’re just cover anyway for when Gabrielle goes down. Take the dumb-looking one in green there.” 

“Got it.”

 _Turner._ Isaac had no way of knowing that was who they were talking about. But he was wearing green. Below him, Leo had tensed even further, and he had his hand on Isaac’s waist to push him off. 

Isaac tried to do as he was told. He was worried that Leo’s armour would clank and make a noise. Instead, there was a sudden banging against the wall, right beside Isaac, like something had hit it in the other room. 

Nothing in the world had ever been that loud. 

“Did you hear that?”

The sound of movement. “There’s someone there, behind the carpets.” 

“Fuck,” Leo whispered, closing his eyes for a second. Boots stomped and Isaac looked over his shoulder at the two men looking down at him. One of them had a knife out.

“Some kids,” The guy without the knife reported over his shoulder. He was the one who’d been told to shoot Turner. “Picked the wrong room to get your rocks off in, boys.”

“Haul them out of there,” the man who seemed to be in charge said. “Slit their throats.”

As Isaac felt ice sweep through him, the other man standing over him crossed his arms. “We’re not killing some random kids, that’s not what we’re here for. They can just sit there until we go.”

“And identify us after? I don’t fucking think so.”

“Come here, you.” The guy with the knife grabbed Isaac’s collar and hauled him to stand. 

“Let go!” Isaac wished he were slightly less scrawny and useless in that moment. 

“Don’t bother, kid.”

Leo stood behind him, hand on his sword. “Let him go.”

“Oh, fuck. A baby knight.” 

The man’s knife was suddenly at Isaac’s throat. “Put that down, kid. And we won’t make you watch us kill your boyfriend.”

Isaac closed his eyes. He stopped struggling, trying to calm himself down, trying to centre himself a little. He needed to do something useful, instead of standing here panicking. 

“Don’t hurt him. He’s just here, he didn’t even see any of you,” Leo told them. It was clear he was trying to sound commanding and equally clear that he was terrified.

Isaac’s heart was pounding in his chest, but he took a deep breath as he felt the knife blade press against his throat. When he opened his eyes, he could see the Pillars. “Leo.”

“Isaac, it’s okay.”

“Leo, don’t worry about me.” 

“Aw, look how brave he is,” the man with the knife taunted. “Willing to die for you, even. You’d think you’d be willing to do the same for him.”

“Okay, okay.” Leo was putting his hands up. “Just…let him go.”

“Leo,” Isaac repeated, twitching a finger to touch Dark. “I’m okay.” 

The arm holding the knife moved away from Isaac’s throat. “What the fuck?” the man demanded, as he let Isaac go and fell back a step. Leo’s eyes had gone wide with understanding. Isaac smiled, stepped away from the man with the knife, and pushed with all his strength, throwing the man into his partner. 

“Shit, he’s got magic.”

Steel sang as Leo drew his sword. Isaac turned and saw three more people, two on their bellies on the floor and the third standing, swinging to face him with their crossbows. Still touching Dark, Isaac grabbed the standing man and made him fall over on top of the other two.

He was sweating already from the exertion. He didn’t know if magic was hard or if lifting heavy things was hard. 

“Kill them,” the man Isaac had just thrown said, and the first two had already gotten to their feet and were preparing to attack. 

Isaac reached out to grab them again and froze the one with the knife, which wasn’t a useful distinction anymore since they both had knives now. Leo rushed forward with his sword out, leaping over the pile of carpets, and swung upwards at the second man. Isaac pushed the first back into the other three and, as all of them tried to orient themselves, two swinging crossbows at him, Isaac tugged harder on Dark and willed all of them to stop moving. 

It worked, though the difficulty of it had Isaac’s legs shaking. He could see them straining, trying to move against his spell, but none of them could. Panting, Isaac couldn’t do much but watch them struggle. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Leo struggling with the fifth man, but Isaac worried that if he tried to help he would lose his grip over the other four. He felt stretched to his limit as it was. 

Though he could also feel himself getting used to it. The strain of holding all of them wasn’t lessening, but already Isaac was struggling less under it than he had been even a minute ago. He knew that he could hold them there as long as he needed to. They were cursing at him, threatening him, but they couldn’t move. Isaac was making sure they couldn’t move. The curtain was behind them. 

If he wanted to, Isaac could throw them through it. 

That realization scared him and Isaac felt himself recoil from his own power a little, and as he did he felt his hold over the four men slacken. “Get him before he recovers.” 

“Shit.” Isaac tried to grab Dark again but he was being rushed by the man with the knife, who slashed at him. Isaac put his hands up to defend himself and ended up with long cuts across his palms, which burned. Nearby, another hand had joined the first in fighting Leo, who had fallen. 

Knife man lunged at Isaac again and Isaac brought his hand up on instinct, but all that accomplished was to have the blade slash his right hand open even more at the base of his fingers, and Isaac screamed. The knife was withdrawn as Isaac staggered back. The other man was going to stab down at Leo, was going to kill him, was going to…

The Pillars were all around him and Isaac couldn’t do anything but grab them with his bleeding left hand, a mad attempt to stop himself from being killed, to stop Leo from being killed. The Pillars collected in his hand for a crazy moment Isaac imagined staining them with his blood as he cried out half in pain, half in desperation, just willing them to give him something, something that would stop everything.

The explosion rocked the room, sent everyone flying back. Isaac’s ears rang with it, his vision was seared and when it cleared, he was on the floor with his back to the wall, and so were most of the men. None of them looked likely to get up anytime soon. 

Leo had been on the floor so it looked like the worst of the magic had missed him, Isaac saw belatedly. He was standing up, along with one of the attackers who must have seen Isaac move and thrown himself to the ground or something. Leo kicked him, and the man tried to move, only to be chased. He threw the door open and Leo punched him in the head, out into the hallway, leaving Isaac alone, bleeding, his hand both on fire but also going numb. He wondered if the four men were dead. Had he killed them?

The bottom edge of the curtain was on fire, Isaac noticed vaguely. They’d been taught how to put fires out in Practical the other day, so Isaac raised his less injured hand and touched Shadow near its midpoint, clumsily doing the spell he’d been shown. 

The fire went out after a minute’s thought, and Isaac smiled at the smouldering ruin of the curtain. “Super good at magic,” he muttered to himself. 

“Isaac?”

Isaac looked up, saw Nicholas come into the room. “Oh, hi.” He was feeling a little fuzzy, which dulled any surprise he might have felt at seeing Nicholas. 

“Are you okay? Your hands.” Nicholas came over, crouched beside Isaac, took hold of his right hand. “Shit, this looks bad.”

“Yeah, he tried to stab me a few times,” Isaac informed him, looking down at his hand, seeing the injury for the first time. It was deep, and wide, and he could see white underneath all the blood. “Oh…fuck.” He was starting to feel a bit sick now.

“Make your hand into a fist,” Nicholas told him. “We’ll get you downstairs to a healer.” 

“I can’t,” Isaac said, looking at the blood. It was spurting a little.

“Isaac.”

“I can’t move my fingers.” It was funny, how suddenly he could feel distant from his body like that. 

Nicholas was quiet for a second, but he reached out and closed Isaac’s fingers for him, pressing his fist tight to quell the bleeding. It hurt, having his hand touched, but not much more than it had hurt already. Isaac barely even noticed. He did notice the cut on Nicholas’s cheek, though. “You’re bleeding too.”

“Let’s worry about that when your fingers aren’t falling off, okay?”

Isaac nodded, and looked up as Leo came back into the room. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Leo’s voice sounded a lot more serious than it had all night. Isaac guessed he was working now. “Are you? Let me see.”

Isaac held up his balled fist, blood running through his fingers and down his forearm. And that wasn’t even considering his left hand, which was less hurt but still bleeding. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Oh, hey, Ty.” He was there behind Leo, also with his sword. What was he doing up here? “You’re a bit late.” 

“Sorry about that. You okay?”

Isaac nodded. 

“Here, we need to get him downstairs,” Nicholas was saying to Leo. The two of them took an arm each and helped Isaac stand. As he got to his feet, one last person came into the room, also with a sword. It was Owen, Isaac realized after a second. He wondered what Gavin’s boyfriend was doing up here. 

Ty turned and looked at him. “Looks like there was another party in here,” he told Owen. “I get the impression Isaac must have blown up at them.” 

“Ha,” Owen said, though Isaac thought that it was a funnier joke than that. “You okay, Isaac?” he asked, looking in Isaac’s direction.

Isaac nodded. He kind of wished that there weren’t so many people to see him like this. “I’ve been worse. I don’t remember when.” Maybe the night the wraiths had attacked. But he hadn’t been injured then. 

“You did all this?” Owen asked him, vaguely gesturing around at the destroyed room. One of the fallen assassins coughed. So at least Isaac knew he was breathing. 

Isaac looked down at his feet. “It was an accident.” One day maybe he’d do some major magic and actually know what it was. “I think they were trying to kill the princess.” That was probably important, he should have already told them that. Maybe Leo had already done it.

“Yeah.” Owen sighed. “Let’s get you downstairs. All of you need healing and that’s where all the magic people are.” 

“We’re magic people,” Nicholas told Owen. He sounded kind of petulant, which was a bit funny.

“Can you heal?” Owen asked him. He also sounded really different from how he had before. He was also working, Isaac realized. While he’d been screwing around everyone else had gone into work mode. 

Nicholas looked away from Owen, looking a bit chastised. “No.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Owen told him, turning for the door. “It’s an advanced skill.”

“How would you know?” Nicholas demanded.

“Just a guess. Seems like a recipe that would take a lot of ingredients.” Isaac had no idea what they were talking about. 

But his head was starting to clear, at least. Even if that meant the pain in his hand was getting worse. “Why were all you up here?” he finally found the presence of mind to ask. None of them had been up here earlier and Isaac and Leo hadn’t been here that long. He decided he could walk on his own, extricated himself from Nicholas and Leo. They both tried to keep him there, but they did let him go after a second.

“Looking for assassins,” Nicholas told Isaac. They stepped out into the hallway, where the man Leo had chased was unconscious on the floor. “What were you doing up here?”

Isaac looked around the hallway, eyes settling on Leo on his left side. “I was…also looking for assassins,” he said, hiding a small smile for Leo. It was too bad they’d gotten distracted.

“All five of those guys were hiding in your friend’s pants?” Nicholas teased. “Wow.” 

Isaac managed not to laugh and Leo went a bit red beside him. Owen patted Nicholas on the shoulder. “That was much better. You’re learning.” 

Isaac didn’t have a chance to ask what Nicholas was learning before a clatter of armour and a stomping of boots announced the arrival of some more guards and a knight or two. “What’s going on?” the knight in front demanded, weapon drawn. He was Isaac’s father’s age or maybe a little younger, blond and kind of pale. 

“Sir.” Ty saluted him, moving to the front. “We uncovered an assassination plot. It’s been dealt with.”

“Dealt with?” The knight sounded appropriately doubtful. Isaac was struck with the strange impression that he and Ty talked in a similar way. Something in the way their voices were pitched.

“Dealt with,” Owen agreed. “If you and your people would be so kind as to restrain these various assholes on the floor, we need to get downstairs. They’re two separate groups, I don’t suggest locking them up together.” 

Two groups? Isaac looked around, into the open doorway of the second room. There were a bunch of people on the floor in there too. 

This party had really gotten out of hand. 

“Your response time kind of sucks, by the way,” Nicholas told the knight, which Isaac thought was awfully cheeky considering it was coming from the guy who was too afraid to tell a teacher his boot was untied. 

Owen shrugged, which Isaac guessed was agreement. “He’s right. We’re going downstairs.” And he passed by the knights with the rest of them following. Ty hung back for a few seconds, but he hastened to catch up after reporting to the knight. 

Isaac didn’t take the stairs as quickly or as confidently as Owen, Nicholas and Ty, and Leo nicely hung back with him as he slowly made his way down. “Sorry,” Isaac said to him as they went down. 

“For what?”

“For not being more careful. I got distracted and got us both hurt.” If Isaac had just kept his concentration for a few more minutes, he could have kept the four of those men in place for long enough for Leo to finish with the fifth. 

“Fuck, Isaac.” Leo shook his head. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I did a shit job protecting you. You ended up doing all the work, and here I’m supposed to be a knight.” 

“I think you’re a very good knight, Leo.” Isaac smiled at him. “I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get to continue spending time, though.” 

Leo’s frown was replaced with a nice smile. “Me too. Maybe some other time?”

“Sure, if they ever let me leave the academy again.”

Leo laughed, and he put his arm around Isaac’s. He made it look like a gentlemanly gesture, but it helped to be able to lean on him. “I hope it’s soon,” he said when they got to the bottom of the stairs. “I’d like to get to know you. Not just in the way that makes clothes fall off.”

Isaac snickered, but he gave a nod. “Me too.” He liked Leo. 

They didn’t chat much more beyond that the rest of the way back to the banquet hall, where lots of people were standing around outside the doors, chattering at each other. Owen kind of shouldered his way through the crowd in a way that opened space for the rest of them. Isaac’s bleeding hand got a few looks, but Isaac ignored them in favour of putting his feet in front of each other. 

Leo let him go and the minute they entered the room, Isaac could see Oliver and Yancy, rushing over. Peter was with them. With a wave at Leo, Isaac started towards them. 

“Hey,” Owen said to him before he could go. 

“Yeah?” Isaac kind of wanted to see the mages now. They could heal his hand, which really hurt. Except where he couldn’t feel it.

Owen gave him a serious look. “You saved Gabrielle’s life just then. Even if it was an accident. Thank you.” 

Isaac smiled at him, trying to mask his pain with confidence. “I try,” he told Owen. 

“Thanks,” Owen said to Nicholas, and with a nod he broke away from them to head towards Gavin and Gabrielle.

The assorted mages reached them and Isaac ignored them for just one more second to put his arms around Peter. “Hi.”

“Hi, are you okay? You’re bleeding like crazy.” Peter hugged him back.

Isaac nodded, stepped back from the hug. Peter had a bruise on his face, Isaac saw. “Did someone hit you?” he asked, an anger building in his stomach at the thought. 

Peter just snorted, shook his head. “It looks like someone tried to stab you. Let’s worry about me after we get that fixed, okay?”

“Okay.” Isaac wanted to know who had hurt Peter so he could…do something to them. Isaac wasn’t really a ‘beating people up’ type of guy. It would just be nice to know, for reference. 

He spotted Nicholas, looking a bit lost out of the corner of his eye, so Isaac gave him a brief hug too. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” Nicholas sounded just as awkward as he always did when Isaac tried to be friendly, so Isaac stepped back and smiled. 

They were surrounded now. “Are you okay?” Oliver demanded. “What happened?”

“Oliver, let’s get the lad healed before we bombard him, shall we?” Yancy asked, making as if to take Isaac’s hand but moving aside suddenly as the archmage and Cameron came through the crowd.

“Good evening, sir.” Isaac said, wishing he wasn’t so tired.

“I’m most curious to find out what happened up there behind those curtains, you two,” the archmage said, taking Isaac’s left wrist. 

“Me too,” Isaac admitted, shrugging and regretting it as it sent a spike of pain down his arm. 

“Oh, let him go, Gregory,” Cameron smacked the archmage’s hand away, took Isaac’s in her own. “We both know you can’t heal a paper cut.” 

Isaac’s hand stopped hurting the moment Cameron touched it, and while the archmage made a bit of a bemused noise behind her, Cameron covered his fist in her other hand and Isaac swore he felt a Pillar resonate, but he must have been imagining it. Warmth spread through his hand and up his arm, through his body. “This is a hell of a cut.”

“Good thing he missed and put it in my hand instead of my face, then,” Isaac joked, feeling lightheaded now. 

“I will never understand boys and their need to make light of danger. It’s a wonder any of you survive to sire children, I swear.” Cameron sighed, pouring more warmth into Isaac. He felt his fingers uncurl as sensation flooded back into them. “You could well have lost the use of your hand if not a few fingers. You’re lucky I was here.” 

When she finished, Isaac pulled his hand back, flexed the fingers a bit. “I’m starting to think being lucky’s the only thing I’m actually good at.” He was really dizzy now. His hands didn’t hurt, but they were tingling all over.

Cameron looked over Isaac’s shoulder at Oliver. “Go get him one of those disgustingly sweet pastries on that table. Sugar will do him good until he can go back to the academy and rest.” 

As Oliver nodded and moved off, Cameron finished her inspection of Isaac and took Nicholas’s hand in hers. “Ah, one who knows how not to hurt himself.”

“Well, my dad always told me I’ve only got one body, so I should be careful with it.” 

“A clever man. And here I thought they didn’t exist.” 

“Hey,” Peter said, putting a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. Isaac turned to face him again. “Are you okay? Really?”

Isaac smiled, nodded, and reached up to brush Peter’s cheek before seeing the blood on his hand and thinking better of it. “Yeah. I’m okay. Are you?”

“I am. Guess we survived the party.”

“Guess we did.” Isaac chuckled. “Let’s never go to a party again.”

“I had fun.”

“I got stabbed.”

“Fair enough.” Peter smiled. “You look tired. We may have to postpone your reward.”

“Aw,” Isaac pouted. “I’m sure I can stay awake through that…”

“Not risking it.” 

“And after I did all of this to impress you,” Isaac said.

“Sure you did.” Peter patted Isaac on the arm. “Now turn around and let the archmage interrogate you.”

Isaac sighed, turned around and sure enough, there was the archmage, watching them all patiently. “I should very much like to hear what happened to the three of you tonight, boys.”

Smiling, Isaac glanced at Nicholas, nudged him in the side. “You first.”


	36. What Schools Don’t Teach Is Just as Important as What They Do

The ceiling had a crack in it. Isaac hoped that had already been there and that he hadn’t done it. He chose to believe it had been there already and that some other poor student had put it there by accident one day. 

“Are you all right?”

Isaac nodded from his place laying on the ground. His head had stopped spinning already. “Yeah.”

Diana reached down and helped him up, and Isaac sighed, stretching a little and pretending that his back wasn’t bruised. “What did you do?” she asked him, looking worried.

Isaac shook his head. “Not what you were trying to show us.” 

How Isaac had managed to turn a lesson in how to change air temperature into a small explosion was beyond him, but he took some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one who’d done it wrong. Spencer had started a fire and Jillian had frozen the floor for a metre all around her. 

Isaac wondered how Diana taught this class without having a heart attack. A room full of idiots who didn’t know what they were doing trying to use magic must be the most stressful thing in the world to manage.

“Try again,” she suggested, looking around at the rest of the room. Her assistant was an apprentice named Ned, and he was walking around the wide, empty room that Development was held in to make sure that nobody else blew themselves up trying to make it warm. 

Isaac nodded, wincing as his head protested just a bit at that. He reached for the Pillars, touched Shadow the way Diana had showed them. Trying to feel the air around him, Isaac willed it a little cooler this time, since warmer had blown him up.

Diana watched as he did it, and the temperature dropped by a good few degrees all around Isaac. “That’s better. Now make it warmer since I assume that’s what you did last time.”

“Yeah,” Isaac nodded, took another breath and shifted his hand, preparing to warm the air.

“Ah.” Diana reached out, put a hand on Isaac’s wrist. Not that a hand on his wrist could stop him from doing magic, since using the Pillars wasn’t a tactile thing—as she kept reminding them—but Isaac stopped, looked up at her. “You’re a little too high here.”

“Oh.” Isaac moved his hand a little lower, which moved it closer away from the intersection with the branch Pillar. And he cast the spell, warming them both up. “I must have been too close to the…”

A shrill screech filled the air and they both looked over to see Aaron stepping back from something. “I’d better go help,” Diana said, smiling at Isaac.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Isaac nodded and let her go, wondering again how anyone had the patience to teach this. 

The screech went on for a bit because Diana never fixed their problems for them unless someone was about to die, and she patiently stood there with Aaron and showed him how to fix whatever he’d done. Isaac watched as she did. Aaron had been using Dark to cast the spell so he hadn’t done it the way Isaac had, but it looked like he’d pulled funny on it when trying to warm the air and had made the air yell instead. 

Why that was a thing, Isaac didn’t claim to know. 

Using Dark, Isaac tried to do the same temperature spell now, hoping that he didn’t blow himself up again. His hand tingled for a moment and Isaac paused, flexing it. That had been happening on and off since Cameron had healed him at the banquet. He’d been assured that it would stop after a few days. But for now it served to remind him that he needed to get better at magic, because a slightly deeper cut would have left him with a few less fingers.

It would be easy enough to just say he’d never go to a banquet at the castle again so he wouldn’t get involved in assassination attempts on royalty anymore. But Nicholas had said that some of those people had been there to kill a mage—one of the three of them. And someone had attacked Peter in all the chaos. 

If nothing else, Isaac was going to get better at magic so that he could stop people from hurting Nicholas and Peter. 

“I don’t get it,” Aaron was saying to Diana as he tried to figure out what he’d done. At least he’d managed to turn the screaming off, though it sounded like he might have dimmed his hearing thanks to the noise. “Peter did it right—and I was watching the way he did it and doing the same thing.”

Isaac looked up, away from his own spell and over to the two of them. Everyone else in the room was doing their own work, and he didn’t think anyone else had heard Aaron except for maybe Andy. Isaac hadn’t been watching Peter, but he had glanced in his direction earlier. 

Peter had been using Light to cast the spell. 

Both twins were Dark mages.

Isaac wandered over there, frowning a little and trying not to look worried. 

“You should learn from me or Ned, not from another student,” Diana was saying to Aaron. “Nothing against Peter, I’m sure he was doing it well. But for teaching, it’s better if you follow what the instructor shows you.”

“Hey, Aaron?” Isaac asked, getting a look from Diana but watching Aaron instead of her. “You use Dark, right?”

“Yeah,” Aaron nodded, glancing at Diana as if uncertain suddenly. 

“Do you ever see anything else?”

“Oh, um…” Aaron looked at his brother now, who’d come over as well. “Well, sometimes I think I do. But I mean, the Pillars are bigger than they look, like we learned in Development, and they don’t always stay the same shape, right? Sometimes you think you’re seeing something funny and it’s just part of your Pillar that you don’t recognize.”

“Yeah…” Isaac wondered. “Hey, Peter?” he called.

“Yeah?”

“Can you show Aaron your temperature spell?”

“Isaac, what are you doing?” Diana asked, as Peter’s footsteps came closer. 

Isaac smiled at her. “Remember what you told me about the chosen one back in the fall?”

“I told you a lot of things.”

“That he could theoretically teach other mages how to use all three Pillars?”

Diana blinked. “Isaac…”

“I think you were wrong about that.” Isaac had been wondering this for a little while now. He’d seen the way they taught magic here. “Peter?”

“Sure,” Peter said, and he reached up and manipulated Light, fingers brushing over the Pillar as he made the air just a little cooler around them. “There.”

“Yeah, see…” Aaron said. “That’s what I was trying to do. But…” He touched Dark, made as if to do the same thing.

Peter’s eyes had gone a little wide. Diana had fallen very silent as she watched them. 

“Aaron,” Isaac said quietly. He looked at Andy, who was watching Peter curiously as well. “Your spell isn’t working because you’re using the wrong Pillar. Peter’s using Light.”

“But that’s…” Aaron looked at Diana now. “That’s impossible.” It sounded like a question. 

“Maybe not,” Diana said, looking at Peter now. “If the chosen one…”

“What if it doesn’t have anything to do with a chosen one?” Isaac interrupted. “Peter, you know that thing I did to show you all Light in the room that time?” At Peter’s nod, he asked, “Can you do it?”

“I think so, it was just…” Peter tugged on light, gave it a bit of a squeeze, feeding some of his own power into it, Isaac now realized. The Pillar started buzzing a little. 

Suddenly everyone was paying attention to them now, and Isaac heard more than a few exclamations. Diana’s eyes had gone wide, and she was looking at the Pillar in Peter’s hand. “Oh, my God.”

Isaac looked over his shoulder, at Nicholas. He looked like he’d been hit by something. “Nicholas, try that with Shadow,” he suggested.

Still looking stricken, Nicholas jolted out of his trance and looked at Isaac for a long second before nodding, and reaching out to squeeze Shadow as Peter had for Light. The same thing happened, the Pillar buzzing, more illuminated than usual. Everyone in the room was looking at it now.

Not even looking, Isaac tugged on Dark, did the same thing again. This time there were no exclamations, just a silent wonder from everyone, including Diana and Ned. 

Isaac turned back to Diana, the room illuminated by the three Pillars, strongly visible. “When Peter first saw Light, they told him he couldn’t because it was too early. Aaron talked himself into believing he’d seen Peter use Dark for his spell. Elena gave a whole lecture about how it’s easy to mix Pillars up and think that we’re seeing things we’re not. But what if she’s wrong? What if we’re all wrong?” he asked. “What if the only reason the chosen one can see all three Pillars is because nobody told us we can’t?”

“Oh, my God,” Diana repeated, hand reaching out to touch Light. 

“Diana, what if the only reason most mages can’t use all three Pillars is because the academy taught them that they couldn’t?” 

Diana touched Light, looking for a moment like she might cry. “All this time,” she whispered. “All this time it was right there.”

“And you didn’t need a chosen one to show it to you,” Peter said quietly. 

“He’s right,” Nicholas agreed. “Aaron was already seeing Light without Peter’s help. He didn’t need it shown to him, he just needed to know what it was. It was always there for him—and for everyone.”

“You just needed to all stop telling each other that it wasn’t,” Isaac finished.

“The things we could have accomplished…” Diana said, shaking her head. “I could see it when I was your age. I convinced myself I couldn’t. I let them tell me I couldn’t. And then I couldn’t. I’ve done it now to…so many students. And I almost did it to all of you too.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Isaac told her. “It’s what you were taught.”

“Not anymore,” Diana said. All around the room, students were touching Pillars they hadn’t been able to see until now. “We won’t be teaching anyone not to see ever again.”

Isaac nodded, looking at the buzzing Pillars. Light, Shadow and Dark were illuminated brightly and humming as they were touched by so many people at once. And as the ability that had made Isaac, Nicholas and Peter special became normal, Isaac couldn’t help but wonder about the seven other threads of power he could see, the ones that weren’t buzzing, that nobody was touching.


	37. Chaos Is Easy to Take Advantage of While Everyone Is Distracted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, at the academy.

They had one day off a week at the academy, and the only bad thing about that was that it was only one day long. Still, Isaac tried to make the most of it when it came around, only wasting half of it studying and doing something fun for the other half. ‘Half’ being defined very loosely, since he got up late and only studied until lunchtime, but whatever.

Unfortunately, his leisure time was not to be today. The minute he stepped outside of the cafeteria with Peter and Skip, Isaac could hear bells ringing, and not the normal churchy kind. “That’s weird,” Isaac said, looking up. The bells were low, ominous. 

“I think they’re alarm bells,” Peter muttered, frowning. 

“So what, the city’s getting attacked?” Skip asked, crossing his arms. He looked worried. 

“I don’t know…” 

“Should we do something?” Isaac asked, stomach clenching now. A lot of others had come outside as well, also looking around for the source of the bells. “Like to hide somewhere, or…”

“There’s a shield around the academy,” Peter reminded Isaac. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“I guess…” Isaac found himself not so sure. Something felt wrong. Maybe it was just the bells worrying him. But something felt _wrong_. 

But he wasn’t sure what, couldn’t say what, and everyone looked worried and upset. Who was Isaac to say he was more worried than anyone else?

They milled around, for a bit. Some of them wandered off, bored when the bells didn’t stop, muttering about false alarms. Isaac wanted the bells to stop before he wandered off. He wanted to be told that nothing was wrong, but there were no faculty to be seen to reassure them of that.

Then a shadow passed overhead. 

Isaac and the rest of them looked up, saw it. “Oh, fuck.”

Dragons were way bigger than the stories about them let on. 

It soared over the academy, going on for what seemed like miles. It had to be the size of the dormitory building if not bigger, Isaac thought, and his mind couldn’t handle that, couldn’t figure out how to position something that big that could move like that, or move at all. 

It was headed towards the castle, and as they watched, it began to circle.

“I didn’t know they were that big…” Peter said quietly beside him.

“I didn’t know they were that _thick_ ,” Skip added. “Its wings are massive.” 

All around them there was muttering, shouting. All of them watched the dragon, rapt. As if nothing else was happening in the world. 

“Fuck.” Isaac looked away, towards the back end of the campus. 

_Someone broke into the Vault while that was happening,_ a voice in Isaac’s head whispered. Oliver had told him that, way back in the museum in the winter. The last time a dragon had attacked, it had kidnapped prince Gavin. And at the same time, while everyone had been watching it, someone had tried to break into the vault. 

“ _Fuck_.” Isaac gave the dragon one last look, broke into a run. 

“Isaac?” Peter called after him. 

“Someone’s going to break into the Vault!” He shouted, keeping up his run. He felt bad, he knew Peter couldn’t follow him at this speed, and that made him feel like an asshole. But he hadn’t seen any of the faculty or anyone, nobody headed for the Vault. Which meant there might not be anyone else trying to stop it.

He might be wrong, Isaac knew that. He hoped he was wrong. Then he’d look like an idiot, he’d have missed the dragon and everything would be fine. 

But he wasn’t wrong. Something was wrong, but it wasn’t Isaac. Not this time. 

The stately looking house in the back corner of the academy looked just like it always did, fancy and out of place in the grounds. He ran to the front door, panting, and pulled. The door was locked. “Oh, fuck you,” Isaac muttered, taking a step back and bringing the Pillars into his vision. 

“Isaac?” 

Isaac looked over his shoulder, saw Oliver approaching him, out of breath. “Oliver? Where’s Yancy?”

“With the archmage. He told me go come here just in case.” He smiled. “I guess you do listen when I talk.”

Isaac couldn’t help but smile back. Now that Oliver was here, he felt a lot more secure. “Sometimes,” Isaac said, looking back at the door. “They’re locked.” And there was a thread of Shadow running through them. 

“They’re never locked,” Oliver muttered, but he pulled on the door and confirmed that Isaac was right. “Hold on, I’ll…” Oliver tugged on Light, and Isaac watched the doors completely refuse to move. “What the…”

Isaac reached out and tugged that thread of Shadow, and the building rippled. “Shadow is good at making you believe things that aren’t real,” he muttered. 

“An illusion.” Oliver frowned, pulled on Shadow himself. The house disappeared, proved itself to be three feet back from where they were standing. “Not a very good one. The best illusions use Light as well.”

There was a loud crack and Isaac looked over his shoulder, saw that the dragon was now perched on one of the castle’s towers. He looked back at the house. “It doesn’t need to be good, it just needed to distract us for a minute. And it did.” He marched forward, pulled on the real doors, got annoyed when they didn’t open, pulled on Dark instead. The doors broke open, falling out of their hinges as they did. 

“Didn’t know you had that in you,” Oliver commented, as the two of them went into the building. 

“It’s the only spell I’m good at,” Isaac muttered, not taking the time to wipe his feet as they proceeded through the statue room and through the back hallway. “I guess we know someone’s in here who shouldn’t be.”

“The wards on the Vault will keep them out,” Oliver said, not sounding at all confident. 

“Yeah.”

Neither of them slowed down. 

It was a big house but it wasn’t huge, and soon they were in the hallway leading to the Vault. Where it was clear that the new doors were thrown wide open. “Fuck,” Oliver muttered. “Most of the wards are inside the doors.”

“Who could break through them?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Should we wait for Yancy?”

Oliver took a deep breath, and shook his head. “He’ll be here soon. We have to at least try to stop them.”

“And if we can’t?” Isaac demanded. The two people who were supposed to be guarding this door were nowhere to be seen. 

Oliver was silent as they approached the doors. “Yancy will be here soon.” 

That was not very reassuring, and Isaac could hear his heart pounding in his skull as they approached. But they didn’t have a choice. 

They approached the open doors, beyond which was a small room with another door at the back, closed. All around the room were fading strands of power, where the Pillars had been woven together. It was how advanced spells were done, ones that were meant to last a long time. It was a highly advanced skill that Isaac didn’t even understand, but what he did understand was that all of these strands looked like they’d been severed. 

“The wards,” Oliver said, looking around. “Someone…cut through them all.”

“Isn’t the whole point of wards that you can’t do that?” Isaac asked, stepping into the room and heading for the interior door, which was made from a heavy metal. “Not all of them.” There were heavy threads of power on this door still, obviously put there by whoever was inside the Vault.

Isaac wasn’t optimistic enough to assume that they’d deterred whoever had opened the first door, which meant that was who’d put them there.

“What do you mean? There’s nothing there.” 

Isaac glanced at Oliver, then back at the door. “There’s magic on this door, Oliver. You can’t see it?” After they’d made their discovery about the Pillars the other day, word had spread pretty quickly. Not everyone at the academy could see all three already, but now that the secret was out the ability was spreading as mages showed each other how to see the Pillars properly. Some people, Diana told him, seemed to have natural affinities for one or the other and honestly couldn’t see one of the Pillars without being shown, but many had realized that they’d been seeing several Pillars all along or had as kids and hadn’t realized, like Diana. 

“I don’t see anything.” Oliver put his hand out, made to pull on the door’s handle. 

The powers encircling the door reacted as Oliver got closer, pulsing a little. Not a ward. “Oliver, don’t!” Isaac grabbed him by the arm. “That’s a trap. If you touch it, it’ll…do something.”

“How do you know?” Oliver demanded.

“I don’t, but I can see it and you can’t. It started to look like it was going to blow up when you got near it.”

“The Pillars don’t work that way, Isaac, they don’t have a mind of their own.”

“Yeah.” Isaac looked at them. He couldn’t tell which Pillars had been tapped into to make whatever this was. So he looked to the side of the door, at the wall.

“Isaac…”

“I have an idea.” Isaac grabbed Dark, and pulled at the wall with a powerful tug. It collapsed outward, leaving a plume of dust and a hole into the next room. “It’s just like a mage to guard a door and not think of the wall beside it,” he muttered, heading for the hole.

“You’re better at that spell than I am,” Oliver said, obviously surprised. 

“If I’m only going to be good at one thing, I’d better be really good at it,” Isaac said, feeling oddly embarrassed. 

“You’re good at more than one thing…Isaac.” A glowing wall went up in front of both of them as they passed through Isaac’s hole, blocking the scarlet flame that shot at them from inside the room. 

“I’d hoped you would try to open the door,” a voice said from inside the room, as the fire dissipated. “Would have been fun to walk through the pieces of you on my way out.”

“Fuck,” Isaac whispered, recognizing that voice with a sinking of his stomach. 

“Christopher?” Oliver asked, and the last of the smoke from the fire cleared, revealing Christopher standing in a long room full of shelves, a box in his hands. 

He grinned at them. “Oh well, maybe I’ll get Yancy or even the archmage with it when they show up. I’m guessing if you’re here that means the real mages are on the way, yeah?”

“What the hell are you doing, Christopher?” Oliver demanded, stepping into the room, in front of Isaac. 

Another grin, and Christopher waved a hand around at the room, at all of the things on the shelves. Some were on the floor, he’d obviously been rifling through them. Most of it just looked like stuff to Isaac, but he could feel a hum in the air that set his teeth on edge. “An arsenal, in here. The biggest collections of magical tools and weapons in the world. And it sits in a room, gathering dust. Forever. Isn’t that just the stupidest fucking thing you’ve ever heard?” Christopher sneered. “With everything that’s in here, we could literally walk down the road, knock down the castle doors and make the king lick our boots while we sit our asses on his throne. But it sits here. Useless.”

“Did you miss the whole building you walked through to get here?” Isaac asked, nervous. “It’s all about why we don’t try to take over the kingdom.”

Christopher smirked at him, and he opened the box and pulled out an oblong yellow rock. The Pillars pulsed around him. “And this is the most powerful of them all.” 

“A rock,” Oliver said, sounding worried. 

“Oliver…” Isaac really didn’t like the way that Christopher was looking at it, really didn’t like the way the Pillars were reacting, humming around Christopher.

“You never were the smartest cookie, Oliver,” Christopher said, looking up from the rock to Oliver. “I guess that’s why you two get along so well.” 

“Oliver!” The Pillars started to resonate before Christopher even touched one, which gave Isaac a second to grab Dark, push Oliver out of the way from the blast of fire that shot right at him. Isaac himself jumped to the other side to avoid being burnt. The fire left a bar of white across his vision, seared the wall down to the stone. 

Christopher was really trying to kill them, Isaac realized in a moment of cold fear. This wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t him patting Isaac on the back too hard or punching Oliver for fun. He wanted to hurt them. And maybe he always had.

“Isaac, run.” Oliver stood, touching Light and Shadow as he did. “Go get the first faculty you can find.”

Isaac watched the Pillars in Oliver’s hand, and Shadow in Christopher’s. He shook his head. “I’m going to stay here and help.” If he left, Oliver would be dead when Isaac came back. 

“It’s cute that you think you can help,” Christopher sneered. “You’re too much of an idiot to even figure out basic magic, from what I hear.” 

That was true, but Isaac wasn’t going to let it stop him. He reached out with Dark to lift Christopher and toss him backwards, but Christopher broke his spell with a wave and did something that had an invisible blade of air swiping at Isaac from the right side. “Isaac!” Oliver shouted. 

Isaac swore, ducked under the blade, rolling towards Oliver. With a cracking of wood, Christopher’s spell hit some of those shelves, sent them toppling downwards in a crash of wood and metal as everything hit the ground, seeming to organically avoid Christopher as it did. Oliver shouted and there was a flash of light that blinded Isaac as he rolled, and when Isaac stood, he felt disoriented. 

That passed, though, when he realized that Christopher was right in front of him, and Oliver was against the wall near the door, unconscious. “Oh, fuck.” Isaac scrambled to his feet, but Christopher grabbed his shoulders. 

“Let go of me!” Isaac struggled, tried to get away from him, tried to pull back. 

Christopher leered down at him. “You don’t really want me to do that, Isaac.”

“Yes, I do!” Isaac managed to break free for just a second, but Christopher grabbed him roughly by the wrist. 

“You liked having me grab you, didn’t you? You liked having me pin you to the bed and fuck you like an animal. You liked…”

“Shut up!” Isaac wrenched his hand back, grabbed Light and something else, willing Christopher to get away from him. A bolt of lightning shot from his palm, throwing Christopher back into the nearest shelf, where he slumped to the ground. 

Panting, holding back tears, Isaac staggered back a step or two. 

“Hey.” Oliver was up, and at Isaac’s side. “You okay?”

Isaac nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. “Yeah. He didn’t hurt me.” _This time._

“Good, that’s good.” Oliver took Isaac’s hand, squeezed it. And he started tugging at Isaac’s sleeve. 

“What are you doing?”

Oliver smiled at him, that nice smile that Isaac liked. “I’m just really happy you’re okay.” He leaned in and kissed Isaac, first gently and then harder, needier. 

“Oliver…” Isaac pulled back a little, pushing at Oliver’s chest. “Stop.”

“Why?” Oliver smiled, and that wasn’t his nice smile anymore. “You beat him. We should celebrate.”

This wasn’t like Oliver. “Not right here we shouldn’t!”

“Why not?” Oliver whispered, leaning in for another kiss, his hands coming down to loosen Isaac’s pants. “This is what you want, right? You always have. And I’ve always wanted it too, I was just too scared to admit it to myself. I’m not scared anymore.”

“Oliver…”

“I love you, Isaac.”

It was wrong, it was all wrong, Isaac shook his head, giving Oliver a hard shove back as Oliver’s hand dipped into the front of his pants. Isaac fell back. “This isn’t like you.”

Oliver smirked, taking a step forward, unlacing his own pants now. “Sure it is. You asked me how many times for this? I’m saying yes to one of those times now.” 

Isaac backed away, short of breath, scared. He’d never been scared of Oliver before. This was wrong, it wasn’t right, it wasn’t real. 

It wasn’t real.

Shadow made people believe things that weren’t real.

Isaac reached out as Oliver reached for his arm, grabbed Shadow. Pulled on it, the way Oliver had earlier with the house. 

Oliver rippled, disappeared. Behind himself, Isaac could hear laughing. He scrambled to his feet, saw Christopher, hand on his stomach, giggling as he watched Isaac. “Really had you believing that, didn’t I? Can you even imagine, Oliver being that assertive? Poor idiot doesn’t even know how his cock works.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Isaac demanded, wiping at his eyes. He looked around for Oliver. Saw him there, sitting at the foot of a shelf, a burn on his front. Groaning. “Oliver!”

“Meanwhile, all he knows is that you attacked him.”

Isaac raced over, crouched beside Oliver, feeling cold. “I’m sorry, Oliver, I’m sorry. I thought you were him.”

“It’s okay…” Oliver managed, trying to sit straight with Isaac’s help. That burn looked bad. “Christopher’s illusions are better than I remember.” 

Footsteps behind him and Isaac stood, turned to face Christopher, stomach burning with hatred, eyes burning with tears. He put himself in between Christopher and Oliver. “Why are you doing all this?”

“Because I’m tired of people like Oliver telling me to play nice.” Christopher noticed Isaac reaching for a Pillar and he did something with his hand, making the whole Pillar buzz and shake so Isaac had to draw his hand away from it. “Because I should be allowed to use my power to have what I want, not for some stupid idea of making the world a better place.” 

“You’re wrong…” Oliver coughed, getting to his feet behind Isaac. “That’s not what that power’s for.”

“Hm.” Christopher smirked at them both. “That’s not what Isaac thinks. He’s all about getting what he wants, isn’t he?”

“Shut up,” Isaac warned. The three main Pillars were reacting to that stone in Christopher’s hand. The others, the other powers that Isaac was starting to think nobody else could see, weren’t. Maybe if he grabbed one of those. Maybe if he knew what one of those did. 

“Oh, right you haven’t told Oliver about that, have you?” Christopher asked, taking a step forward. “About how you were undressing me in your head that whole supper we all ate together? About how you came to my room and begged me to fuck you?”

“That’s not what happened!” Isaac felt like throwing up. Oliver could hear this. He didn’t want Oliver to hear this. He wanted it not to have happened at all. 

“About how you didn’t want to leave afterwards?” Christopher smiled at him. “You had a good time, I remember. So did I. You know, maybe after I kill Oliver I’ll take you with me. Fuck you good and proper as much as you want. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, little chosen one?”

“Shut up!” Isaac shouted, closing his eyes shut. He’d never been more angry, more ashamed. 

Oliver moved, managing to get his hand on Light for an instant, sending a ripple through the room as he attacked Christopher with a shout. 

Christopher dispelled that with a snort, took a step forward. “I’ve always hated you.” He waved his hand, and a long slash appeared on Oliver’s front, blood spurting. Oliver screamed. So did Isaac. “I hate how morally superior you are.” Another slash. “I hate how _nice_ you are.” Another. “I hate how earnest you are about helping people.” One more. “I hate how you pretend you don’t think you’re better than everyone else, how you pretend you only want to learn for knowledge’s sake.” Christopher pause for a second. “I’ve hated you from the first time you offered to help me with my homework, Oliver.” He gestured, and Light rippled, followed by Dark, and something invisible seemed to bore into Oliver’s chest, sending out a spray of blood everywhere and Oliver fell to the ground without a sound, unmoving.

“Oliver!” It sounded to Isaac like he was shouting into a world without sound.

“Nice of you to show us all that little trick, kid. Three Pillars are better than one. Now if I’d been you, I’d have never shown anyone else how to be as powerful as me. Let’s go.”

Blood spread out from underneath Oliver as he lay there on the ground, unmoving. Isaac was shaking. The world felt distant, his body felt distant. He turned as Christopher took another step forward, smiling that smile. Isaac reached out beside him, tangled his hand in the Pillars, all of them, even the ones that he didn’t have names for. They wrapped around his hand, tangled, a matrix of glowing, pulsating power. Christopher stopped moving. 

_I want to kill him,_ Isaac thought, and unlike at the banquet, he didn’t recoil from that idea. And a ball of energy shot from his hand, too white to be called white, and flew forward, right at Christopher, right through Christopher. 

Christopher tried to take in a breath, couldn’t with that hole in the centre of his chest, blood pumping everywhere. He fell over, whatever effect he was having on the Pillars fading, the yellow stone falling from his hand with a clatter. He didn’t move. 

Isaac picked up the stone and dropped to his knees beside Oliver, rolled him over. The Pillars thrummed around him, the three main ones, clearer than ever now that he’d picked up the stone. “Oliver…” He was still breathing, choking on blood. The web of power was still wrapped around his hand. _Heal him,_ he begged. Isaac didn’t know how healing magic worked. But Oliver was going to die. _Please, heal him._

Power flooded into Oliver and Isaac watched as his wounds knitted shut, blood vessels and muscles and bone growing back, skin covering them, until there was nothing left but Oliver’s unbroken chest. 

Isaac could feel magic approaching now, lots of it. He looked up at the door, waved. Whatever trap Christopher had placed on it disappeared just a few seconds before the doors swung open, admitting the archmage, Yancy, Diana, Lee. Elijah and Elana and Cameron followed, other faculty. 

Isaac let go of the Pillars, dropped the stone on the blood-stained floor. And he leaned away from Oliver, and threw up on the floor, nearly collapsing in the puddle afterwards. 

“What in blazes happened here…” Yancy asked, as Diana crouched beside Isaac, put a hand on his back. 

“Help Oliver,” Isaac pleaded. He couldn’t help but look over at Christopher’s body as Elijah went over there, recoiled from something. What looked like a long insect seemed to be squirming in the hole Isaac had made in Christopher’s chest, and it made him glad he’s already thrown up. 

“It’s okay, Isaac.” Diana was checking him with Dark, checking him for injuries. Isaac wasn’t hurt. “You’re going to be okay.”

Isaac looked from Christopher’s body and the insect, to Oliver, pale but softly breathing, to the blood-stained stone on the floor, being picked up by the archmage, then back to Diana and Yancy. He shook his head, feeling dizzy. “I don’t believe you.”


	38. Revelations Always Seem to Follow from Violent Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My natural impulse is to hide information from everyone. It takes a lot of talking myself into posting a chapter like this one.

“I’m sorry I left you alone,” Isaac muttered, holding his arms to keep warm. “That was shitty.”

“Yeah, but it’s okay.” Peter patted Isaac’s leg, speaking quietly. “If you hadn’t run, you might not have gotten there in time.” 

Isaac nodded, looked down at Oliver. “For all that me getting there in time fucking helped,” he said bitterly. 

“He’s alive,” Peter reminded him. “Would he have been alive if you hadn’t been there?” 

Isaac didn’t know, he didn’t know anything. He was just a dumb kid. Maybe if he hadn’t been there, Oliver would have been less distracted against Christopher and been able to do something more easily. Maybe if he hadn’t been there, none of this would have happened. 

He knew that wasn’t true. If he hadn’t been there, Oliver would have tried to open the door and triggered the trap on it. If he hadn’t been there, nobody could have healed Oliver. If he hadn’t been there, Christopher would have gotten away. He’d still be alive. But it was hard to remember that, and easier to think on how useless he’d been. 

Oliver’s chest rose and fell softly in the academy’s infirmary. He was fine, the mages had looked over him and determined that his injuries had all been healed without a trace. If Isaac hadn’t told them what had been done to him, they would never have known he’d been injured, was what he’d been told. His body just needed a few days to recover from the attack and then he’d wake up. 

It was hard to remember that too, when he sat here just watching Oliver sleep. It was easier to think he’d never wake up. Even if it wasn’t true. 

Footsteps sounded, and stopped behind them. “Isaac,” a voice said. It was Diana. “How is he?”

“He’s still asleep.” Isaac didn’t look up from Oliver. 

“The archmage would like to talk to you.”

Isaac shook his head. “He can wait.” He’d waited two days already, just telling Isaac not to tell anyone what had happened before he’d had Isaac hurried out of the Vault. 

“I’m sure he can, but he’d rather not.”

“I’m not…”

Peter’s hand fell on Isaac’s arm. “Go. I’ll stay here with him, okay? You’ll be the first to know when he wakes up.” 

Isaac looked up, looked at Peter. Taking a stuttering breath and squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn’t cry, he nodded, and he leaned over and gave Peter a hug. “Thank you.” 

“You’d do the same thing if it was me, Isaac, come on.”

Isaac nodded and stood, wiping at his eyes and swallowing. “I…love you.” That had to be what this was that he was feeling, this quiet, low contentment that he felt just by being near Peter, the warmth that filled his entire heart when they hugged, the anchoring feeling he got from Peter holding his hand. That was what he was feeling and there was only one word he could think to express it with. 

Peter’s face went funny, he stared at Isaac for a second, eyes going wide, before he broke into a wide smile and nodded, looking a little misty in the eyes. “Yeah,” he said, still nodding. “I love you too.” 

Isaac couldn’t help but let out a little laugh; hearing that made him feel bubbly. He hugged Peter again, and the two of them stood like that for a good while before Diana subtly cleared her throat. “Okay,” Isaac said, stepping back. He gave Peter a kiss before letting go. “I should go.”

“I’ll be here when you’re done.” Peter was still smiling. 

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, and he left Peter there with Oliver, going with Diana. 

At least some good had come from all of this. 

Diana didn’t lead him to the stairs, but rather through the halls until the reached the back of the building, where she opened a door Isaac hadn’t known was there and led him into the lift. “So you’re picking Peter, are you?” 

Isaac shook his head. “Yes, but not in the way you mean. Picking him doesn’t mean I’m not also going to pick someone else. He knows that.” It was one of the reasons Isaac loved him.

“Will he pick someone else too?” 

“I don’t know.” Isaac shrugged. “I hope he does. But some people only want one person.”

Diana gestured with Dark and had the lift moving upwards. “I’m happy for you.” 

“It’s a dumb thing to worry about right now, I know,” Isaac muttered, looking away. Someone was dead and Oliver was still unconscious, and here Isaac was worrying about getting a boyfriend. 

“It’s not. We can’t refuse to live our lives because of someone like Christopher. If you do that, he wins even dead. Don’t let him win.” 

Isaac looked at her, saw the hardness of her expression, and he nodded. “Okay. How are you finding using Light?” He wanted to talk about something that wasn’t Christopher. 

Diana’s expression softened, a bit of a playful smile came to her face for a moment. “It’s harder than using Dark. I don’t know if I’m just too old to learn or I don’t have as much affinity for Light, but it’s trickier than I expected.” 

“I’d be happy to give you some pointers,” Isaac joked. “I did teach all my roommates how to touch it.” 

“Careful, I might take you up on that.” Diana shook her head as the lift stopped. “I’ve already come up with ways to do things I never could before. It may not have been a chosen one power, but the three of you have revolutionized magic. No matter what else you accomplish, I hope you know that.” 

“I’ll try to keep it in mind. Just do me a favour and don’t build me a statue. That’s too weird.”

“I’ll let them know to cancel the masons,” Diana said, pushing the door open and leading Isaac into the archmage’s office. 

It wasn’t as empty as last time. The sofa had been moved closer to the desk, the chairs from before arrayed on either side. Yancy and Elijah were there with Lee, Cameron and some stern looking lady Isaac didn’t know, but recognized as the one Cameron and the archmage had been arguing with at the banquet. The archmage was sitting behind his desk, watching the conversation they were having with obvious patience. “Ah, Isaac,” he said, when Diana brought him in. “Come sit.” 

Isaac did, trying not to be nervous as they wall watched him. He took an empty chair rather than the space on the sofa between Cameron and Yancy, because the two of them looked so amazingly uncomfortable next to each other that he didn’t want to be in between them. “How are you feeling?” the archmage asked. 

“I’m okay, sir.” Isaac lied. 

“I suspect that’s not true, but okay.” The archmage smiled, but his expression soon turned serious as Diana took a seat as well. “I want you to understand that what we’re about to talk about is better kept in this room for now, Isaac.” 

Isaac nodded. “I understand.” He also understood that the archmage hadn’t actually told him not to tell anyone. 

He got a nod back from the archmage, who then looked at everyone else before folding his hands in front of him. “Christopher was acting on the orders of a man named Solomon.” 

Isaac waited for the rest, but there wasn’t a rest. Nobody else looked surprised, but he supposed they’d been talking before he got here. “How do you know?” They couldn’t have asked him any questions, he’d been dead before any of them had arrived. 

“The centipede that was inside his body,” Cameron told him. “It’s a means by which Solomon controls his servants.” 

That was really gross. Isaac shuddered, but took a breath, trying not to remember the thing that had crawled out from Christopher’s corpse. “So he was being controlled?” 

“No. He was acting of his own will.” That was the woman from the banquet, who sat straight-backed in her chair. “From what you said, he was alive while he was down there. If he were being directly controlled by the creature, he’d have been a corpse.” 

“How was he not a corpse anyway?” Elijah demanded. “That thing was inside of him.” 

The woman nodded. “The centipedes are parasitic entities born from sorcery. Sort of. I’m given to understand that having one inside you, while not comfortable, doesn’t alter your living your life. But it does allow for contact with Solomon telepathically. And theoretically he could use it to take direct control of the person when he wanted, but I think that would kill them.” 

“Sort of, given to understand, theoretically, I think,” Cameron rhymed off. Isaac could practically taste the scorn. “That’s a lot of conjecture, Cleo.” 

“Solomon isn’t the most forthcoming with information. I learned what I could before I left.” Isaac would have hidden under the nearest piece of furniture if Cameron had directed that at him, but Cleo just returned the unimpressed look. 

“You lived with him,” Isaac ventured, looking at her. Cleo, he was realizing, wasn’t a mage. She didn’t feel magical the same way the others did. 

“He’s my father,” Cleo confirmed, nodding. She didn’t sound very happy about that. 

“What does he want?” 

“A powerful magical artefact that we keep in the Vault here,” the archmage answered. 

Isaac nodded. “The yellow stone. It made Christopher more powerful.” That hadn’t been what he was asking. The way Cleo had talked about the centipedes made it sound like it wasn’t just Christopher who had one in him. And as much as Isaac wanted to recoil from the idea that anyone might have something like that inside them, he was at least smart enough to realize that Solomon hadn’t made possibly several centipede puppets just for one thing from the academy’s vault.

“Yes. There are a number of others, and we believe that Solomon is after all of them, including the one we possess.” 

“In fact,” Cameron said with a nod, “except for yours and ours, all of them are currently missing.” 

“Yours and ours?” Isaac asked, frowning at her a little. 

“The witches,” Lee told Isaac. “I’m sure Elena must have taught you about the fivefold division of magic by now, right?”

“Yeah,” Isaac said with a nod. There were five different types of magic in the world—magecraft, wizardry, witchcraft, sorcery and necromancy. So that must mean there was one stone for each. “Seems like you should have been keeping a closer eye on them.” 

“Apparently so,” Cameron said with an annoyed shake of her head. “Last time I ever trust wizards to keep their eyes on their crap.” 

“In any case,” the archmage said, giving Cameron a look, “it’s extremely important that Solomon not gain possession of all of the stones. It would make him very dangerous.” 

“Seems like he already is.” 

“Yes, that’s become increasingly apparent. There was an attack on the city itself while Christopher was breaking into the Vault—wraiths and some sort of demon controlling them,” the archmage told him. Isaac looked up, shivering for a second. 

“And the dragon,” Isaac added, and got a nod. 

“I had a feeling you’d put most of that together already.” The archmage was smiling in a grandfatherly way. 

“I’ve never known my father to use wraiths as a means of attack,” Cleo said with a sigh. “He’s escalating his violence—and his power. He needs to be stopped.” 

“Agreed, and the Grand Coven decided that years ago,” Cameron declared. “We’re pleased that the rest of you have finally come around to our way of thinking.” That was said with a pointed look at the archmage.

“Yes, yes.” He waved a hand, sighing. “Better late than never. Coordinating the effort will take some time—we don’t want to attack a sorcerer of Solomon’s power unprepared.”

“In the meantime,” Yancy rumbled, while Cleo made a bit of an agitated noise, “we should focus our efforts here on rooting out any of Solomon’s other minions who might be hiding. I have a hard time believing Christopher was working on his own.”

“Agreed,” Elijah said quickly, when a few heads turned his way. “He was not unintelligent, but never the cleverest of people. I doubt he could have worked out how to break into the Vault on his own. You will want to investigate me first, which I understand, of course.”

“We’ll have to develop a way to find out if people have these centipedes inside them,” Lee said, frowning at Elijah. “But in the meantime, I can conduct interrogations under truth spell, that should help.” 

“We need be circumspect, however,” the archmage warned. “I don’t want to be conducting a witchhunt. No offence, Cameron.”

“Offence taken.”

“Why am I here?” Isaac asked suddenly, looking around. “You don’t need me here to have this conversation.” 

“We do, Isaac.” The archmage gestured for Isaac to remain sitting. “Because the people here now are the only people who know this information, and I want us all to know the same thing, and I want you to know it so you know why it can’t be repeated. Keeping you in the dark isn’t going to keep you safe, not anymore.” 

“Why would you keep it a secret?” Isaac asked. “Don’t say it’s because you don’t want to corner someone and have them do something dangerous—someone’s already died over this, and Christopher almost killed Oliver. People have a right to know that there might be someone dangerous in the school.” 

“No, they don’t,” the archmage disagreed, shaking his head. “The academy is a safe environment. The damage caused by telling people that it isn’t would be irreparable.” 

“The damage caused by someone dying because you didn’t tell them they weren’t safe would be worse,” Isaac challenged.

The archmage’s vulpine face went a little still at that, and he watched Isaac carefully as if considering eating him. 

“Sir,’ Yancy interrupted with a cough. “You said you wanted the lad’s perspective on the situation.” 

“So I did,” the archemage answered, not breaking eye contact with Isaac. “Could I have a moment alone with Isaac, please?” 

“No.” That came from Lee, who was shaking her head in Isaac’s peripheral vision. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir.”

“I agree,” Cameron said with a nod. 

“It’s fine,” Isaac didn’t look away from the archmage, struck by the knowledge that there was something he wasn’t saying. 

“Isaac…”

Isaac turned to look at Lee, smiled a little. “Someone tried to kill me the other day. I’m not afraid of being told off.” Isaac refused to be intimidated by the archmage. 

A lot of silent conversations seemed to be happening as everyone looked at each other, but finally they all started to collect themselves and get up, heading for the double doors that must lead to a waiting area or something. “Just summon us when you’re done,” Cameron said over her shoulder as she brought up the rear of the little group, closing the door behind her. 

Isaac brought his gaze back to the archmage, who watched him for a long minute. The silence stretched. Isaac didn’t like it. “I didn’t know you could control dragons,” he said after a minute.

“Neither did I,” the archmage admitted with a nod. “They’re immune to magic, so I’m not sure how it was pulled off. A mystery.” He sighed, reached into his sleeve and pulled out the yellow stone, set in on the desk in front of him. “I’ll be putting it back in the Vault once the wards are repaired.”

“Don’t you have anywhere else safer to keep it?” Obviously the Vault wasn’t that secure.

“I could keep it in here, but your friend proved that my office isn’t as inviolable as I’d thought either, now didn’t he?” the archmage asked him with a small smile that had Isaac looking away. “I’ve been in charge of this school for quite a long time, Isaac. I know full well when a student isn’t telling me the whole truth, and you weren’t when you told us about the person you ran into out in the city. You’ve been allowing a thief to break into the academy in the night without telling anyone.”

“You obviously knew about it,” Isaac muttered, a little red in the face. “Cameron knew about it too.” Isaac obviously wasn’t as good at keeping secrets as he thought. 

“That’s hardly the point.”

“Jacob isn’t after the stone.” Isaac’s gut twisted a bit.

“How do you know?”

Isaac bit his lip. “I don’t. But he’s not.” But he had mysteriously known about Isaac being the chosen one. “I’ll ask him.”

“When you do, you might also ask him what he wanted with my daily schedules and the current student list. I have a feeling he didn’t stage the break-in to cause such a minor inconvenience.” 

“He said it was mostly politics,” Isaac cleared his throat a little. “I don’t think he knew either.” He was looking at the stone, which looked so innocuous, until he looked a little harder and could see the Pillars pulsing around it. “Why is it so important? There were a million things in the Vault that Christopher could have taken.” 

“Indeed. Perhaps Solomon just likes collecting and wants the whole set. Or perhaps he knows something about the stones that the rest of us don’t.” The archmage folded his hands in front of the stone. “Either way, I will not permit him to have it, and I should like your help in keeping it from him.”

“I can’t help,” Isaac shook his head. “I’m not even that good a mage.” 

“You were good enough to overpower Christopher while he was holding this.” The archmage gave Isaac a look. “You were good enough to heal Oliver with no knowledge of healing spells, and you were good enough to cut through the trap Christopher had placed on the Vault’s door.” 

“I don’t know what I did.”

“I do. How many Pillars can you see, Isaac?”

“Three.” Isaac frowned. That was a stupid question. 

“Don’t lie. How many can you really see?” 

Isaac looked up from the stone, met the archmage’s eyes again. He looked patient. He knew, Isaac realized. Somehow. “Ten,” he said quietly. “Twelve, maybe.” Sometimes he perceived two other threads, more encompassing than the others. They didn’t glow like the Pillars, but they were there too, sort of everywhere. 

“Did you know that in Dynese, the words for ‘three’ and ‘twelve’ are the same?” When Isaac nodded, the archmage did too. “An often-overlooked part of the prophecy. Obviously _skase_ is meant to be translated as three, what else could it mean in the context of magecraft? What do you think it means?” 

“I don’t know,” Isaac whispered. 

“I think you have a guess. But I’ll give you a hint, Isaac—the spell you used to heal Oliver was the same one Cameron used on you at the banquet. And the trap you cut through on the door was created from sorcery, a spell circle we found in Christopher’s clothes that he’d been given.” 

Isaac closed his eyes, wishing he didn’t feel sick again. “I’m not really a mage, am I?”

“No,” the archmage said softly. “But you are the chosen one.”

“You don’t know that,” Isaac said with a fast shake of his head. “You don’t. Maybe Peter and Nicholas can…”

“Isaac,” the archmage interrupted. “Look at me.” 

Isaac opened his eyes, his vision swimming a bit. The archmage looked worried. He had really bright eyes. He had probably been really cute when he’d been Isaac’s age. “You have two choices. You can accept your reality or you can run from it. And what you prefer to do is your business. As much as we might like to have a chosen one on our side in the fights against people like Solomon, you’re just a student and you’re entitled to that. And in teaching us what you have about magic, you and your friends have already done enough to earn your places in our history books forever. But if you wanted to, you could do so much more. This stone belongs to you.”

“I don’t want it,” Isaac shook his head. 

“I know you don’t. And I wouldn’t give to you now anyway. You’re not nearly trained enough for it, and it’s dangerous.” Isaac nodded, he knew that. He’d seen Christopher use it. “Someday I hope you’ll take it, but if you don’t, that’s fine. I understand that you don’t like to keep secrets, but this at least I really believe you shouldn’t tell your friends. Do you understand why?”

Isaac closed his eyes again, Peter’s face coming to mind. He nodded. “Yes.” There was no need to keep Peter and Nicholas alive if everyone knew Isaac was the real one. 

“Until all three of you are better trained, I cannot risk exposing you to danger. When you are older and properly practiced in magic, it will be your choice to tell people what you like. But now, as a student, I am asking you to please accept that I know what I’m talking about.” The archmage sounded like he was pleading. 

“Okay,” Isaac whispered, looking at the floor. He wanted all of this to go away. But it wasn’t going to. “Okay. But I still think it’s a mistake not to tell people about the Solomon thing.” 

“You may be correct about that. But if I tell everyone, I want to do it in a controlled way, so as to avoid panic. Give me some time, and I will make an announcement. I know you’ll tell Peter and Nicholas. But let me tell everyone else, please?”

Isaac was quiet for a long time. He had the weirdest feeling that the archmage had planned this from the start. He nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Thank you. It’s helpful to have a different perspective sometimes. When you’re up for it, I’d like to tell Cameron about you. She can teach you the basics of witchcraft. After that, I’d also like to find someone to teach sorcery and wizardry as well.” A smile. “Fortunately for you, necromancy is illegal, so you won’t have to study that.”

Isaac laughed in spite of himself. “Any way we could make history illegal too?”

“Alas, no. We will die by our curriculum here at the academy.”

Isaac nodded, looked back up. “It was worth a try. Um. Can I have some time before all that, please? I just…I’m not ready for all that yet.” It was clear from the way the archmage had put it that he wasn’t giving Isaac a choice. 

“Of course. We shall have to come up with a suitable pretense anyway.”

“I am pretty good at just sneaking out of my room at night,” Isaac offered. 

“So I hear. One more thing about the stones and then I’ll leave you to go back downstairs.”

“What is it?” Isaac asked. 

“I told you ours belonged to you, when you’re ready for it. We’ve always known that. But given recent developments, I’m now of the belief that all of them do.”

“All of them.” That made Isaac want to hide under a bed forever.

“I think they were meant for you to use.” He was totally serious. 

“To do what with?” 

The archmage looked away from Isaac for the first time, at something over Isaac’s shoulder. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling it will be something extraordinary, Isaac.” 

“I’m not extraordinary.”

“That’s what extraordinary people always say.” The archmage smiled, picked up the stone and put it back in his sleeve. “Now, I think we’ve had them wait outside long enough.”

“You didn’t really bring me up here to talk to them at all, did you?” Isaac asked, as the archmage raised a hand. “It was all for this conversation.” 

He got a conspiratorial wink in reply. “Sometimes, things that look spontaneous aren’t. Keeping secrets is somewhat in my nature. Perhaps you’re a good foil for me in that way.” He nodded. “If you’d like to return downstairs, feel free. We’ll just be discussing the details of how we’re going to investigate.” 

“I’ll stay, if that’s okay,” Isaac said as the doors swung open, cutting off some quiet chatter outside as the rest of them looked up, and headed back for the room. “I’d like to know what’s going on. Maybe I can help.” Probably not, but who knew.

“We’re glad to have you. Please keep disagreeing with me when I’m wrong, would you? It doesn’t do me any good to have a room full of people who do nothing but nod their heads.”

“Is that what you think we are?” Cameron demanded as she came back in and sat down in Yancy’s old spot on the sofa. “You don’t pay much attention, do you, Gregory?” 

“You don’t count, Cameron. I think the last time you agreed with me was when I was…fifteen?” 

“Fourteen, and only because that was the last time you were right about anything.” She looked at Isaac. “He said nothing was worse than walking in wet boots.”

Isaac couldn’t disagree. “At least he was right about something important?”

“At least,” Cameron sighed, shaking her head as the rest of them sat down. “Now, let’s talk about centipedes.”


	39. People Don’t Usually Choose Convenient Times to Get Sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of my present for Ranter, who asked for sick James or Peter and I couldn't decide, so I did both. Hopefully you're feeling better!

“I’m fine.”

“You’re full of shit,” Isaac told Peter. Gently. “And snot.”

“Don’t be gross.”

“Your nose is running.” 

Peter scowled at Isaac. For about two seconds, before he broke off into a coughing fit that lasted a good while. When he was done, he still looked annoyed, but his expression had softened a little. “Okay, maybe I don’t feel the best I ever have.”

“No kidding,” Isaac said, putting the back of his hand against Peter’s forehead. “For God’s sake, you’ve got a fever too.”

“Do I? I guess that’s why I’ve been so hot all day.” Peter held his hand over his eyes for just a second. 

“You shouldn’t have gone to class,” Isaac chided as he guided Peter back to the dormitory. 

“No, I shouldn’t have gotten sick on a day when I had class,” Peter corrected him. 

Isaac didn’t think they should have started class again so soon after what had happened, but he supposed it was all part of the archmage’s grand plan of making the academy seem safe and normal even when dragons were attacking the castle and shadows were murdering people in the streets. “Class isn’t as important as your health, Peter,” Isaac told him. 

“So you say.” Peter coughed again. “Anyway, class is over, so I’m going to go die in a puddle now.”

“Oh, God, you’re one of _those_ sick people,” Isaac grumbled, shaking his head. “I’m going to have to bully you into getting better.”

“Just say something nice at my funeral.” Peter sounded really tired. Isaac rolled his eyes. 

He managed to get Peter all the way up the stairs and to the dorm room, where Baker came over to greet them, wagging his tail. “Hey, you.” Isaac patted his head, before moving Peter onto his bed. Peter went down with a bit of a groan. “Take off your shirt,” Isaac suggested.

“Not really the time for that, Isaac,” Peter muttered, putting his forearm over his eyes. 

“To cool you down,” Isaac said patiently, patting Peter’s hair. “I’m going to take Baker out and then bring you some cold water and something to eat. I’ll be back soon.”

“You don’t have to take care of me.”

“You’re obviously not going to take care of yourself,” Isaac countered, giving Peter one more pat before standing. Baker had heard the word ‘out’ and was jumping around excitedly now. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“I’ll try not to die.”

“I’d like that.”

Isaac led the puppy out of the room and back outside, yawning most of the way. He wasn’t sleeping well lately, and he kind of wanted a nap. But he also kind of wanted Peter not to get worse because he was too dumb to take care of himself. 

Baker obediently followed Isaac down the stairs and outside, where he immediately ran off behind the dormitory building. His training was going well, he was getting much better at not disappearing on Isaac. By the time Isaac got around there, he was already sniffing around looking for somewhere to pee. 

Once he was done, he started bouncing around again. He wanted to play, but Isaac couldn’t leave Peter forever. “Sorry, buddy. We’ve got to go in, and…”

Footsteps behind him had Isaac turning to see Nicholas. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Isaac smiled. “How you doing?”

“I’m okay. You?”

Isaac nodded. He’d told Nicholas and Peter most of what had happened in the archmage’s office the other day. “I’m fine. Do me a favour?”

“What?”

“Peter’s sick and I need to go make sure he doesn’t try to do homework and pass out. Can you throw a stick for Baker for a few minutes until he’s ready to go in?”

Nicholas hesitated for a second, looking at the dog. “Uh, sure. I can do that.” 

“Thanks, Nicholas.” Isaac spotted a stick and tugged on Dark to get it to fly into his hand, giving Baker conniptions of puppy excitement. “Here,” he said, passing the stick off to Nicholas. 

“You’re getting better at that,” Nicholas observed, taking it.

Isaac shrugged. “It’d be a bit weird if I was getting worse, yeah?”

Nicholas actually laughed at that. “I guess. I want to talk, properly. When you’re not busy.”

Isaac didn’t want to talk properly, but he nodded. “Sure. Let me get Peter back on his feet, okay?” He’d done quite a lot of talking properly lately and was getting tired of it. 

“Sure.” Nicholas smiled and hefted the stick for Baker. “You want to fetch?”

Baker barked at him. “Go get it, then!” Nicholas hurled the stick, and the puppy tore off after it. Isaac smiled. 

“Thanks, Nicholas.”

“See you later, Isaac.”

Isaac left, made a bit of a long detour to the kitchens. They were preparing supper to be served in the cafeteria in a bit, but when Isaac explained that Peter was sick they gave him some soup and a bit of bread and a jug of ice water. He took it all back to the dormitory, trying not to spill. 

When he got into the room, Peter’s clothes were almost all on the floor and he was wrapped in Isaac’s blanket, sweating. “Sorry I was gone so long,” Isaac told him, sitting on the bed and setting the tray of food on the floor by his feet. “Still hot?”

Peter nodded, letting Isaac put a hand on his forehead. “But also freezing.”

“Yeah,” Isaac said in a sigh, smiling at him. He arranged the pillows—both his and Peter’s—at the head of the bed and had Peter lay against them so he was half-sitting. “I have hot soup and ice water.”

Isaac wet a facecloth and put it on Peter’s forehead, then brought the soup up onto his lap. “I’m not hungry.”

“Food helps you get better faster.”

“I just want to have a nap,” Peter complained, his voice a little nasally from congestion. 

“You can, after you eat a little bit.” Isaac tapped Peter’s belly with his free hand. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you hardly ate breakfast or lunch today, mister.”

“Because I wasn’t _hungry,_ ” Peter insisted. 

“You sound like a little kid.”

“You sound like an overbearing parent.”

Isaac smiled. “Eat your soup, Peter.” He picked up the spoon, brought it to Peter’s mouth. “Come one, here comes the horsie.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass,” Peter grumped, but he also let out a little chuckle and opened his mouth. 

“Look who’s talking.”

“I just want to suffer in peace.”

“And I want you to stop suffering.”

Peter sighed dramatically. “Fine. Thanks, Isaac.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Isaac spooned some more soup for him. “Someday I’ll get sick and you can feed me.”

“I’ll probably push you out a window.”

“I get really clingy when I’m not feeling well,” Isaac informed him as he kept feeding Peter. 

“Oh…” Peter made a face. “I changed my mind. I want a different boyfriend.”

“Then get a different one,” Isaac smirked. “But you’re still stuck with me, sorry.”

Peter let out a very undignified noise, but then he suddenly started to laugh. “What?”

“Just picturing you having to do this all the time because you’re going to have so many boyfriends,” Peter said. “You’ll have to be a full-time nursemaid.”

Isaac snickered at the image. “It’s be worth it.” 

Peter nodded, closing his eyes. He’d eaten about half the bowl of soup, which was something, at least. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Peter.” 

“Going to have that nap now.”

Isaac nodded, he could see Peter starting to drift. “Okay. Feel better.”

“I already do,” Peter said, and he drifted off. 

Isaac sat there with him. This, at least, was something he could do. Someone he could help, something not over his head. So he stayed there with Peter until he felt better.


	40. There are Better Things to Do at Night than Sleep

Isaac woke up suddenly from the nightmare he’d been having about centipedes. They’d been in the walls, in the ground, everywhere. Inside people and crawling out, and he’d been the only one who could see them while everyone had just gone about their lives. They’d been crawling all over him and…

Letting out an annoyed breath, Isaac snuggled into Spencer’s chest a little, tried to go back to sleep. And found he was completely awake, and that visions of centipedes were still lurking behind his eyes. 

Isaac sighed, carefully got up and covered Spencer with the blanket, climbing down to find some clothes to put on. It was the middle of the night, but he wasn’t going back to sleep. Not without some help, anyway. A little walk to clear his head. 

His getting up had woken Baker, so Isaac patted him on the head. “Come on,” he whispered, heading for the door. He leaned down and kissed Peter on the forehead as he went. He was feeling better, though still a little weak. 

Outside in the hall, Isaac made a little ball of light, not too bright, and went to the privy first. He didn’t meet anyone, so he led Baker downstairs and outside, stopping in the entry hall to cast his other spells. The one to warn him when someone was nearby. One Thomas had shown him to sense if someone was doing magic. One he’d learned from Garret that would keep bugs away from him. 

Isaac hadn’t asked if it worked on huge centipedes. He was choosing to pretend it did.

Warded to his satisfaction, Isaac stepped outside, immediately wished he’d put something on his feet. The first day of autumn was tomorrow and though it wasn’t cold by any stretch, it was definitely not hot anymore and the grass was chilly in the night. 

Oh well, too late now. At least it was clear out, which gave Isaac room to think about something that wasn’t the possibility that everyone he knew was possessed by evil centipedes. 

He wondered when he had stopped thinking about how weird literally everything in his life was. At some point it had all just started to seem normal. 

Isaac set off walking, not really heading anywhere in particular. Baker followed after him, sniffing at everything and getting scared of crickets. 

The academy was always so quiet at night. It was so calm. Isaac could almost fool himself into believing it was peaceful. Oliver still hadn’t woken up. 

“I’m not very good at thinking happy thoughts, Baker,” Isaac said to the dog with a sigh. 

Hearing his name, the puppy got excited and bounced around, but then got distracted by an owl hooting and hid behind Isaac’s legs. “It’s okay, buddy. Just don’t listen to the other dogs when they call you a wimp. There’s more than one way to be a real dog.”

Isaac kept talking to Baker as he walked through the grounds, enjoying being mostly alone. And enjoying the company of a dog, if he was honest. Dogs didn’t lie and scheme and try to kill people for no reason, and they didn’t try to convince Isaac that he should be saving the world or some shit. As far as Baker was concerned, as long as he got to go outside a few times a day and Isaac kept feeding him, the world was going just fine. 

One of Isaac’s spells alerted him that someone was nearby, and he looked over in the direction his mind was being tugged. Baker didn’t notice. “You’re going to have to be quicker on the uptake,” he told the dog, looking at the bushes that had someone in them. “If only to hide behind me faster.”

Isaac considered the bushes for a second, and raised a hand to touch Shadow. “Is that you, Jacob?”

If it wasn’t, Isaac was half-confident in his ability to sort of make a fireball. 

“Yes,” Jacob’s voice called, quietly. “It’s me.” There was some rustling, and Jacob stood up, squinting a little in Isaac’s low light. “How did you know? I was hiding pretty well.”

“I thought only cowards hid?” Isaac asked, heading over there.

“Disguising myself, whatever, you know what I meant.” Jacob let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s a point of professional pride that I’m good at being undetected. What gave me away?”

Isaac smiled at him as he got closer. “Magic.”

Jacob frowned, kind of cutely. “In my world that’s cheating.”

“In my world it’s reality.” Isaac gave Jacob a hug, wading into the bushes so they could sit together. “I missed you.”

“Me too.” Jacob looked around. “I heard the academy got attacked. Are you okay? I know…” Jacob shook his head, pulling Isaac further back to where there was a clear space. “I know it’s silly. You’re the only academy person I know and it’s statistically improbable that you got attacked when the academy’s so big. But I got worried.”

“I’m okay,” Isaac promised, as they sat down. Baker leapt into his lap for rubs. “I did get attacked. But I’m fine.”

“What?” Jacob started to look Isaac over, as if trying to confirm that he was fine. “Why would…”

“You know why,” Isaac said quietly, watching Jacob. 

Jacob froze, gave Isaac another frown. “What do you mean?”

Isaac smiled at him, rubbing Baker’s belly. “I never told you I was the chosen one, Jacob. How did you know?”

“I… _shit_.” Jacob looked away, angry. After a second, he looked back at Isaac. “I’m sorry. But it wasn’t like that, I swear. That wasn’t why I…” he waved a hand vaguely at the space between them. “I really like you, Isaac.”

“I really like you too, Jacob,” Isaac promised. “That’s why I need to know.”

Jacob nodded, looking miserable. “My employer has a contact here in the academy. He heard it from them and he told me when I started to infiltrate the academy. I didn’t tell him I knew you, or who you were, or anything, I swear. And he only knew your name.”

“Only my name?” Isaac asked. 

“Yours and another guy’s. I guess there were two of you?”

“For a while, yeah.” Isaac sighed. “Okay. Thank you for telling me. Why did your boss need the archmage’s schedules and the student list at the academy?”

Jacob looked like he wanted to ask how Isaac knew that, but he didn’t. “I don’t know. It was just what I got told to take. I, um, I work for this guy Dominic. He’s sort of like my foster father or something. He’s a noble here in the city, so a lot of what he has me do is politics, like I said. He wants dirt on other important people so he can control them, or something. It’s all kind of boring and pointless if you ask me.”

Isaac nodded along. He was pretty sure Jacob was telling the truth. “So you’re a noble?”

“Not really. I’m adopted. And even then, I’m not really adopted. More like I started working for him when I was a kid. Me and my brothers and sisters.” 

There was, Isaac thought, a lot of story behind that. “Are they here in the capital too?”

“No,” Jacob shook his head. “I don’t see them much anymore.” 

He sighed. It was obvious that talking about this was making Jacob unhappy, so Isaac took his hand. “Okay. Sorry for prying. I just…”

“Needed to know I wasn’t trying to kill you, I know.” Jacob smiled at him. “It’s okay.”

“I trust you.” And it upset Isaac to think that he’d made Jacob think that wasn’t true, even for a minute.

“I don’t think you know how happy that makes me, Isaac,” Jacob said quietly. He took a breath. “Did you name your attack dog?”

The attack dog was having a nap in Isaac’s lap. “Yeah. Baker.”

“Baker?”

“It’s a joke, it’s…” Isaac waved a hand. “Nevermind. I liked it.” 

“Then I like it too.” Jacob scratched the sleeping dog behind the ears. “He looks happy. He’s lucky you found him.”

“I’m lucky I found him too,” Isaac said. “I needed a dog more than I realized. If I could have my way, I’d just live in a village somewhere with fifty dogs.”

“And fifty boyfriends.”

Isaac laughed out loud, waking Baker up. “Yeah,” he chuckled. “That too. You’d be one of them.”

“The most important one?”

“The most roguish one.”

“Close enough.” Jacob squeezed Isaac’s hand. “If I had my way, I’d be an astronomer.” He looked up at the sky. “I really like stars.”

“They’re pretty,” Isaac agreed, looking up at them. He dimmed his light to they could see them better. 

“They’re the souls of saints,” Jacob said, smiling. “And the swords of angels. Except they’re also suns, according to astronomers.”

“Suns?” Isaac asked, incredulous, looking at Jacob. “Suns, like the sun?”

“Like the sun,” Jacob confirmed. “But far away. So far they’re tiny.” 

How far away did they have to be, Isaac wondered, to be that small. He wasn’t sure he bought that. “So which one is it, then?”

Jacob shrugged, watching them. “I don’t see why it can’t be both.” 

They sat in the quiet for a while, holding hands. “Do you have to get back to your dormitory?” Jacob asked after a few minutes.

Isaac shrugged. “I can’t sleep anyway.” 

“I’ll stay here with you until you can. I don’t have to leave until just before dawn.” 

Isaac nodded. “I’d like that.” 

“Me too.”

So they sat for the rest of the night, watching the stars until they faded away.


	41. The Oddest Places Can Become Sanctuaries

“Why isn’t he waking up?”

“I don’t know.” The person who ran the academy’s infirmary was a faculty member named Twila, a lady Isaac’s mother’s age whose greying hair fanned out down her back. She wore a lot of heavy necklaces that clinked when she moved. “As far as I can tell, there’s nothing wrong with him.”

Isaac looked down at Oliver, still asleep. He looked back up at Twila. “People who have nothing wrong with them don’t sleep for weeks.”

“Don’t they?” Twila raised an eyebrow, cocked her head a little. “I hadn’t realized that. Young man, I think you’ve made the medical breakthrough of the century.” 

Cheeks brightening a little, Isaac looked back down at Oliver. “Cut me a little slack, I’m traumatized here.”

“Yes, how are you doing, by the way?”

“I’m fine,” Isaac mumbled, wishing Oliver didn’t look so dead. At least he looked peaceful and was breathing. “I just don’t understand why he doesn’t wake up.”

“Christopher was his friend,” Twila told him. “And he tried to kill Oliver—and almost succeeded. Not all injuries are to the body.” 

“You think he’s still hurting?” Isaac was.

“I think that he’s protecting himself by staying asleep. Means he doesn’t have to face reality. We humans have interesting ways of dealing with different kinds of pain, and this is sometimes one of them. When everything gets to be too much, we just…shut down, for a little while.”

She had a very calming voice that Isaac liked. “Can’t you…open him back up?”

Twila sighed. “I’ve been talking to Lee about that. We might be able to work something out, but no promises.” She clasped her hands together. “In the meantime, you should be worrying about yourself at least half as much as you’re worrying about Oliver. You look exhausted. Are you sleeping enough?”

Isaac was struck with the errant thought that Oliver was doing enough sleeping for both of them. But rather than saying that, he shook his head. “I’m having a lot of nightmares.”

“No doubt.” Twila turned away, puttered around in some of her many cupboards. The infirmary was a wall of beds and three walls of cupboards and shelves, with one long desk along the short wall in the back. The cupboards were full of bags and jars and powders and creams and potions and Isaac wondered how she kept them all straight. She returned with a small tin of herbs. “You should boil a little bit of this into tea before you go to bed. It should help chase nightmares away.”

Isaac considered telling her he didn’t like tea, but he nodded, took the tin. He wanted to sleep without seeing dead bodies and centipedes. “Okay. Thank you.” 

“If it doesn’t work, let me know.”

Isaac nodded at her, pocketing the tin. “I will. I should go,” he said with a sigh. 

“You can stay if you need to,” Twila said, with a small smile.

“No.” Isaac shook his head, smiling back at her. “I should study and get out of your way.” 

“If you say so. I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’m sure you will,” Isaac agreed, waving at her. He patted Oliver’s hand. “Wake up soon, dummy,” he muttered, before turning and leaving the infirmary. 

He hadn’t been lying, he should study. There was an exam in Lee’s class next week that Isaac didn’t feel ready for. But as usual, all he could see was Oliver laying there in his bed, pretending to be alive. 

He didn’t feel ready to stop seeing that, and Isaac’s feet took him to the stairs, but he went up instead of down. He didn’t want to go outside and see his friends. He just…didn’t. Not right now. 

It was only after he’d gone up the four flights of stairs from the infirmary that he realized where he was, and he stood outside the door, hand poised to knock. And Isaac shook his head, turning away. This was silly, he was being silly. 

“Who’s there?” Yancy’s voice called out through the door, muffled. “Come in, come in.”

_Damn_. Isaac sighed to himself, pushed open the door and went inside Yancy’s study. “Hi,” he said, stupidly. 

“Isaac.” Yancy was sitting at his long table, peering down at some moving device. He had hilarious eyeglasses on that made his eyes look huge, like he was some kind of insane owl. “What do you need?”

“Nothing,” Isaac said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.” It hadn’t occurred to him that Yancy might have spells on his door to tell him when someone was lurking. 

“Nonsense, it’s not a bother. Come in. Do you want some tea?” Yancy stood, waving Isaac to a chair nearby, which was stacked with books. 

“No, it’s okay.” Isaac sighed again, and moved the books to the floor beside the chair as gently as he could. “Um, I just…came from the infirmary.”

“Ah.” Yancy nodded, took the hilarious spectacles off. “How is Oliver? I went to see him last night.”

“No change,” Isaac reported. “Twila and Lee are going to see if they can do something together to wake him up. They think…they think that the Christopher stuff surprised him so hard that he’s staying asleep to cope with it.”

“Hmm. Perhaps so. I regret that I am not more versed in healing magic, but I trust the two of them to help him. Twila and Lee were both students of mine at different times, they’re the best the academy has to offer. And Oliver has always been a strong boy, I know he’ll recover.”

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, looking at the floor. “I know he will too.” Because anything other than that was admitting defeat. “Um. I don’t really know why I came here. I just…” Yancy stayed quiet, let Isaac think. “I wasn’t ready to go outside and pretend to be okay.”

“I don’t think anyone would expect you to pretend to be anything when you’re not, Isaac. Your friends all seem like thoughtful young people to me.”

They were. Isaac nodded. “I would,” he said quietly. “When I’m around other people I feel like I have to be getting better. But I don’t think I am.” He wasn’t sure he ever would. “I know it’s dumb, I know nobody expects that from me, I just…” Isaac shook his head. He didn’t know.

“I understand,” Yancy said, smiling at Isaac. “When I was a student—and I don’t claim our situations are the same, mind—I was always at the top of my class. Which you may think sounds wonderful, but I came to be the student who always knew the answer, who always had something to say. And if I didn’t, no matter the situation, I started to feel like I’d failed myself. Like I wasn’t being who everyone expected me to be.”

Isaac nodded now. “That sounds hard.” He felt like that a lot. 

“Again, I don’t mean to suggest that it’s the same as how you feel now. But the expectations we place upon ourselves are often stricter than those imposed by others.” Yancy leaned forward a little, elbows on the table. “The only thing anyone expects from you at this academy is for you to be a student, Isaac. To learn and do the best you can, that’s all.”

“That’s not true,” Isaac said. He wished it was. “They expect me to be the chosen one, too. Or one of them.”

Yancy was silent for a moment. Then he sighed. “Yes, they do. And I apologize for my role in that. It’s an undue burden to place on someone so young.”

“It’s not your fault,” Isaac said, reaching down and picking up one of Yancy’s books to occupy his hands. “You can’t help what’s in a prophecy. And like you said back in my village—my powers were already developing. I would have hurt someone, or myself. I needed to come here, even if I didn’t like it. It wasn’t your fault.”

The book in Isaac’s hand didn’t have a title on the cover, but when he opened it, he came face-to-face with the chosen one prophecy. He snorted. “You must be sick of reading this.”

“Not yet,” Yancy told him, sounding fond. “Though I admit I do tend to skim over the duller parts when I’m tired.” 

The whole thing was a dull part as far as Isaac was concerned. But he laughed. ““and with constancy of heart, he will restore the banner,”” he read, picking a line at random. “What banner?”

“It’s hard to say. The word has a military connotation in the original language, and historians have speculated that there used to be mage companies in armies during the Catechism Wars.” 

“So what, I’m supposed to raise an army?” Isaac asked. He did remember something about that from the books he’d read in the winter.

“That’s only one interpretation,” Yancy said, but he nodded.

“I do like uniforms and armour,” Isaac muttered, shaking his head. He looked at Yancy. “Mage companies? Just mages, or other kinds of magic too?”

“It’s unclear.” Yancy sounded uncertain now. “It’s assumed to have been just mages. Our magic tends to be the most suited to combat of the five types.”

“Is it assumed to be just mages because it’s mages writing the histories?”

That gave Yancy pause for a moment. “Possibly,” he admitted. “Most histories that mention the concept use the word…” Yancy thought for a moment. “ _ysem_. It means…well, it seems to have meant ‘spider’ before the Catechism Wars, from what we can reconstruct. But during or after that period it is used to refer to magic users, and it’s translated as ‘mage.’ As I said, that’s who was assumed to be in combat, and as far as we know, mages had the earliest formal institutions for magic.”

“I wonder,” Isaac said, thinking about what the archmage had said to him. He could use all five types of magic. Maybe other people had used to be able to do that. “If just ‘magic user’ is a better translation. I know I don’t know the language or anything, but…” He closed his mouth. 

He had promised the archmage that he wouldn’t tell anyone that part. Even if Isaac wasn’t sure it was a good idea, he did recognize that he couldn’t take back a secret once he’d spilled it. 

“Why don’t you take that book, Isaac?” Yancy suggested. “I know you’ve read the prophecy before. But that’s my teacher’s copy, with her teacher’s translation and both their notes, as well as mine. I believe Oliver’s made some notes as well, though he doesn’t share my obsession with the prophecy, I fear. You may find it helpful.”

Just like with Twila, Isaac almost said no, and then stopped himself. “Don’t you need it?” he asked instead. “This is what you work on, right?”

“It is, but I’ve all but memorized the book at this point. You may yet learn something from it. And you may have insights that the rest of us didn’t. I’d be interested to hear them.”

“I’m sure I don’t have anything to say that someone smarter than me hasn’t already said,” Isaac protested.

“Nonsense. You’re much smarter than you give yourself credit for, Isaac.”

Isaac snorted. “Wait until I’m in one of your classes and see if you still think that,” he muttered. 

“Do you struggle in your classes, then?” Yancy asked, tilting his head a little.

Isaac nodded, colouring. “Yeah. I’m doing okay. My friends help. But it’s hard.”

“If you like, I could help you.” Yancy smiled when Isaac looked up at him. “Not to an unfair degree, of course. I would hardly countenance cheating. But I was top of my class as a student. I might be able to help if you’re having difficulty understanding.”

Isaac looked at Yancy, then at the book in his hands. He thought about Peter, and Spencer and Garret, and how much help they were. And how, after a certain point, Isaac would pretend that he understood things that he didn’t, because he didn’t want to waste their time. “As you sure you have time for that?”

“I always have time for my students, Isaac.” Yancy’s tone was so firm, in a way that made Isaac realize that he was probably a really good teacher. 

Isaac nodded. “Okay. Thank you. I…could use the help.”

“Excellent. Why don’t you come up here once a week to start, and more if you decide it would help? I shall help you with your studies, and we can talk about prophecies.”

Isaac gave him a smile. “I’m not that into prophecies.”

“I have many years yet to make a convert out of you, not to worry.”

That got a laugh. “I’ll read this and see what I think, then.” 

“You do that. And when Oliver wakes up, you shall help me in my steady attempts to convert him as well.”

Isaac nodded, liking that idea. “Okay. Or maybe he and I will gang up and convert you.”

“You’re welcome to try.” Yancy smiled.

“Could…” Isaac looked around. “I know you have work to do. Is it alright if I sit here and read, for a little while?”

“Of course,” Yancy nodded. “Still not ready to pretend?”

“Not yet.”

“Feel free to stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you, Yancy. You’re really nice.”

“Ah. Pray don’t tell the other students that. I’ve a reputation to uphold.”

“Of course,” Isaac laughed. “You have my solemn word.” 

Yancy narrowed his eyes. “Was that an impersonation of me?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Isaac promised, looking down at the book. 

Yancy harrumphed, but put his glasses back on and went back to looking down at his work. Smiling, Isaac started reading. 

He skimmed over the dull parts.


	42. Part of Growing up Is Having Increasing Demands on Your Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Isaac gets something he was hoping to put off indefinitely, and something he wanted a while ago, all in the same day.

_I’m doing okay. Mostly. I can’t wait until I can come home. I’ll try to bring Peter with me, you guys would like him. Love, Isaac._

Isaac sighed, sitting back and shaking the cramp out of his hand. He didn’t like lying to his parents, but he also wasn’t going to tell them in a letter that he was worried the academy was never going to let him leave. 

Sighing, Isaac got up from his chair, sealed his letter and went to hand it off to Ariel. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Ariel said, smiling at him. She looked more tired than Isaac remembered seeing her before, but he supposed her classes were a lot harder than his. And of course, she had probably known Christopher and knew Oliver. “Letter home?”

“Yeah.” Isaac gave it to her, and Ariel took it and filed it away. 

“And here I thought you were studying over there.”

Isaac looked away sheepishly. “I was at first. Then I stopped.”

“Uh-huh. You remember we’ve got a test in three days, yeah?”

“Yes, I remember,” Isaac grumbled. 

Ariel winked at him. “How about we have lunch tomorrow. I can help with anything you’re finding hard?”

Isaac was going to see Yancy tonight for the same reason, but more help was never bad. “Sure. If you have time, you seem super busy.”

“That’s life as an apprentice, don’t worry about me.” Ariel gave him a smile. “I know it’s your day off, but maybe try to study just a little?”

Isaac snorted. Seemed like a waste of a day off to him. “I’ll do some more after supper.”

“Good boy.” 

Chuckling, Isaac leaned against the desk. “How are you doing?”

“Oh…” Ariel shrugged. “The usual. All the stuff that happened in the Vault is hitting everyone hard, but we’ll make it through. We’ll all be happier once Oliver’s awake.”

“Tell me about it,” Isaac muttered, looking down at a scratch in the wood. “I hope he wakes up soon.”

“He will. I’m sure he’s got a lot to say to you, and he’s not the type to leave stuff unsaid.” Ariel leaned in a little. “I was super into him when we were students, you know.”

“Really?” Isaac had known that Oliver and Ariel had been his age not long ago. But it was strange to be reminded. 

“Yeah, we sort of dated for two months.”

Isaac blinked, trying to picture that. The image of younger Oliver attempting dating was hilarious, and he had to hold back a laugh. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Ariel grinned. “We mostly just held hands on the way to class and stuff. He was really cute, but I kind of realized after the two months that I wanted to be dating a girl instead, so that was that.”

Isaac was still chuckling. “What could have been. The romance for the ages.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Ariel snorted. “Anyway. I hope he wakes up soon.”

“Me too,” Isaac sighed. “I should go.”

“Come visit me any time, Isaac. And I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Isaac agreed, turning and leaving the mail room. 

The main foyer of the tower was never empty as far as Isaac could tell, especially during the day. There were always people coming in and out, heading for the stairs, and they always looked so busy. Isaac never felt quite like he belonged here, but it was getting less and less weird, at least. 

“Fancy running into you here,” a voice said, and Isaac looked over to see Cameron emerging from the hallway that contained the lift, headed for him with determination. 

“You too,” Isaac said, choosing to pretend it was a coincidence. Cameron was one of those people who made it seem like nothing as a coincidence just in the way she carried herself, but he had a hard time believing that she’d been lurking there in the hallway waiting for him to wander by. She was alone, Isaac noticed. “Whatever happened to that lady you had with you when you came here?” he asked. He hadn’t seen Cameron’s servant since before the banquet, now that he thought about it.

“I had some errands that needed running outside the city,” Cameron told him as she caught up with him. Isaac waited for her and then they started to walk out of the tower together. “I’m held up here, so I sent Tabitha to deal with them in my stead.” 

Isaac nodded. “You’re in charge of all the witches, right? You must be too busy to be living here for so long.”

“I sit on the Grand Coven. We’re not as hierarchical as the academy with Gregory on his perch at the top, but we do oversee witchcraft,” Cameron told him, in such a way as made it clear to Isaac that she was in charge of the Grand Coven even if everyone else didn’t know it. “The good thing about being old is that at some point, you can just make other people do things for you, so you’re only as busy as you like to be.” 

“That sounds nice,” Isaac admitted. 

“It is,” Cameron confirmed. ‘And the unfortunate thing about being young is that you are as busy as your elders decide you are to be.”

Isaac frowned, waiting for Cameron to elaborate. But she didn’t, so he had to think it through. And he came to the obvious conclusion and sighed, maybe a bit more dramatically than he’d planned. “He told me he’d wait until I was ready.”

“And I wager that when he agreed to that he neglected to tell you that he would decide when you were ready,” Cameron said with a smile. “He has decided you are ready now. This shall be a lesson for you to be careful how you word your agreements in the future.”

Isaac made an agitated noise, but he just sighed again and nodded. “Can you wait three days until my history test is over, at least?”

Cameron nodded. If she was at all impressed or even curious about Isaac’s miraculous powers, she didn’t show it. “I suppose so. You will meet me that evening, right here in front of the tower.” 

Isaac suppressed another sigh, thinking that three in a row might be pushing it. “Okay.”

“Not to worry,” Cameron smiled. “I will teach you some basics, but I have someone in mind who I will ask to be your full-time teacher. I don’t have the temperament for education.” 

“You seem nice.”

“I suspect you will like my friend better. He’s your age.” 

Isaac perked up at that, and Cameron laughed. “Yes, I had a feeling that would be your reaction. You shall have to put up with me for a few months first, however.” 

With a nod, Isaac agreed. “Okay. I, um, look forward to learning stuff from you. Witchcraft seems cool.”

Isaac had no idea what witches did, but he thought it had something to do with plants, and he liked the plant class, so it probably wasn’t that bad. 

“Hopefully you will still think that after a few lessons,” Cameron said, nodding at someone approaching them. “I’m headed off this way. I think your friend is planning to speak with you.”

Isaac looked where she was, saw that it was Nicholas jogging at them. He wasn’t doing a very good job of not being obvious. “I think you’re right.”

“See you in three days, Isaac.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chuckling, Cameron headed off, muttering something to Nicholas as she went by that had him straightening his back even as he slowed down.

He stopped in front of Isaac, jogging in place. He was sweating a little. “Come with me.”

“What, where?”

“I’m running. You can run with me.”

Isaac gave him a look. “No. I really can’t.” 

Who the fuck ran for fun?

“You promised that next time we talked, we’d do it on my terms,” Nicholas reminded him, giving Isaac an accusatory look. 

Isaac looked back, momentarily distracted by the fact that Nicholas looked good covered in sweat, and then gave another sigh because Nicholas hadn’t been there for the first two. “Technically I promised that we’d be dressed, and if I’d known that included running, I never would have agreed.” 

“Just come on,” Nicholas said, turning and jogging off. 

“You’re insane.” Isaac followed him though, already hating Nicholas and himself for everything that was about to happen.

“Stop being a baby.”

“I’m not,” Isaac panted, doing his best to keep up. The fact that Nicholas was probably going slower than usual to let him was annoying. Isaac was the fastest runner in his village. “Running was only invented so we could get away from wolves and shit. There aren’t any wolves here.”

Wolves would make the academy pretty awesome, Isaac thought. He wished there were wolves. 

“Running is easier if you don’t talk,” Nicholas told him, not breathing nearly as hard as Isaac was. 

“I thought you _wanted_ to talk!” But he hadn’t, of course. He’d wanted to torture Isaac. Like a crazy person. 

Nicholas led them nearly to the wall of the academy, where he turned left, and started along it. “Even you should be able to do one lap,” he said, and Isaac heard him roll his eyes. 

“One lap,” Isaac panted. “Of the whole academy.”

“It’s not that far, stop bitching.”

“You suck.”

“Pretty sure that’s you.”

Isaac tried to take deep breaths as he followed Nicholas. “I liked you better when you didn’t have a personality.”

“No you didn’t.” At least Nicholas was panting a little too, but not nearly as much as Isaac and he’d been running for longer. Asshole. Isaac’s chest hurt. “And I always had a personality, you just pretended I didn’t because you didn’t like me.”

Isaac thought about that as he followed. “I guess.”

They’d gone what felt to Isaac like a good distance before Nicholas spoke again. “Tell me what happened in the Vault,” he said as they passed behind the museum. 

“I told you already,” Isaac said, and he had. He had gotten into something of a rhythm with the running. It was one that was going to kill him when he stopped, but it was something. “I told both of you.”

“Tell me what you left out.”

Isaac looked at him, swallowing air, his urge not to keep secrets warring with his worry about what might happen if people started to find out about him. “The archmage thinks that I might be able to learn to use other types of magic. Besides the Pillars.” 

Nicholas looked over his shoulder, slowing down. “Why does he think that?”

“I don’t know,” Isaac lied, slowing down with him. “Something to do with that stone Christopher was after. He thinks the chosen one might be connected to all five of them.” 

Nicholas watched Isaac for a long time, then he nodded. “Okay. Let’s keep running.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t exercise enough.” Nicholas had already sped up again, taking off and forcing Isaac to do the same or be left behind. 

“I exercise plenty!” Isaac protested when he’d caught up again. Who the fuck cared anyway? Isaac had better things—and people—to do than run around in circles all day.

“It doesn’t count as exercise if you’re on your back,” Nicholas called. 

“You only think that because you’ve never done it! Sex is a lot of work.”

“Hm,” Nicholas said, and with that, he picked up the pace, making Isaac do the same and making it impossible to talk. 

They ran, and ran and ran, for a long time, way too long. Nobody should have to run this long. Nobody should have to do this on their day off. Nobody should have to run. Isaac didn’t know how long they ran or how far, but he was trusting Nicholas to tell him when they’d gone far enough.

A misplaced trust, obviously. Isaac only noticed that he’d been lied to when he looked up and realized they were behind the museum again. “Hey! You said one lap, you asshole!” To make his point, Isaac slowed, came to a stop, hands on his knees. Then he lay there on the ground, looking up at the sky and trying to breathe.

Isaac was maybe a little out of shape.

Nicholas appeared in his vision, grinning down at him. “I wanted to see how long before you’d notice,” he said, sitting beside Isaac, sweat coating his face and soaking through his shirt. Isaac was all sweaty too. Now he needed a bath. 

“I hate you,” Isaac said, a moment later when he’d gotten some of his breath back. 

“You seriously need to get more exercise.”

“Fuck you.” Just because Nicholas was right didn’t mean he wasn’t an asshole.

“Okay.”

Isaac lay there for a second, still trying to breathe. Wait. “What?”

“I said okay.”

Isaac looked over at Nicholas, who was watching him. He was red in the face, but Isaac was pretty sure it was from exertion. “Thought you weren’t interested.”

“Maybe I changed my mind,” Nicholas said, the forced nonchalance in his voice the only thing that gave away his nerves. 

Isaac narrowed his eyes. “What did the changing?” He had a feeling it wasn’t him. 

“Um…” Nicholas was definitely blushing now. “I kind of started seeing Bianca a while ago.”

Ah. Isaac knew this story. “And you’re ready to start seeing her without clothes on, but she’s not.”

Nicholas nodded, not quite making eye contact. “I may have…poked her a bit by mistake yesterday when we were kissing. She laughed at me and suggested I poke you instead.”

Isaac laughed too. “Help me stand up.”

Nicholas did, and when they were on their feet, and Isaac was sure he wasn’t about to topple over, he grabbed Nicholas by the shoulders, pushed him up against the museum wall, and kissed him, rough, fast and just once before stepping back, smirking at Nicholas. “I’m not wrong that you’ve never done this before, right?”

“No,” Nicholas muttered, still not meeting Isaac’s eyes. 

“Okay.” Isaac’s hands wandered down, finding Nicholas’s belt. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Tell me if you want me to stop.”

When Nicholas nodded, Isaac dropped to his knees, pulled Nicholas’s pants down to his knees and gave him a feel through his smallclothes. He was already most of the way hard, and Isaac tugged his smallclothes down as well, taking Nicholas in his hand. Nicholas gasped and made a little noise, and Isaac looked up at him and smiled. “You’ve literally never done this before.”

“I told you that…”

“Never even traded handjobs with a friend?”

“No.”

Isaac actually felt kind of bad for him. “You’ve at least jerked off before, right?”

“Of course I…shut up.”

Isaac smiled, trying not to laugh. “Alright, you’re going to love this, then.” Isaac leaned forward, slipped his lips over Nicholas’s dick, slurping it into his mouth most of the way at the same time. 

“Oh, fuck!” Nicholas gasped, and he swelled immediately, filling to full hardness in a matter of seconds. It didn’t matter how much he liked girls, Isaac had never met a boy who didn’t like a mouth to put his dick in, no matter whose mouth it was. Since he’d also never met a boy whose dick he didn’t want to taste, things had always worked out pretty well. 

Nicholas tasted and smelled like sweat, and Isaac sucked him down about three quarters of the way, not wanting to overwhelm him too much. Both Nicholas’s hands ended up in Isaac’s hair, holding his head in place as he leaned forward a little bit, breathing more heavily now than he had been when he was running. Isaac pushed his hips back so his butt hit the wall, sucking hard and lapping at Nicholas’s head with his tongue. Isaac wasn’t as gentle as he might otherwise have been with a first-timer, going hard on him until after a disappointingly short time Nicholas tensed, cried out Isaac’s name and tried to pull away. Isaac wasn’t about to be cheated out of the best part and he followed Nicholas, keeping his dick in his mouth and tasting the first spurt, then the second, swallowing as his mouth was filled. Nicholas came more than Isaac expected him too, but he swallowed it, enjoying the sharp taste, and when it was done he suckled a little on Nicholas just to make sure he got it all before finally pulling back, smiling up at him. 

Eyes out of focus, Nicholas was looking down at Isaac as if he’d never seen him before. “Oh…” was all he said. 

“You liked that?” Isaac asked, not really needing the obvious answer. Everyone liked blowjobs. 

“Yeah, well…I see what all the fuss is about now,” Nicholas said, breathless still. “It was better than I imagined.”

“That’s because I wasn’t there when you imagined it,” Isaac told him, tugging Nicholas’s hand to get him to sit down. 

“You were last night.” Nicholas did as Isaac made him. Isaac had a feeling he wouldn’t normally have admitted that. Sex tended to make guys more talkative than they usually were. 

Smiling, Isaac kissed him on the cheek. “Anytime you want another one.” Even if he hadn’t cum himself, Isaac was pretty satisfied that he’d made one of his fantasies happen just now. Nicholas was still hard, and Isaac gave his sensitive head a poke. “Or anything else.”

Nicholas nodded, catching his breath now. “And you really like doing that?”

“Yeah, I do. Oh, a tip,” Isaac said. “If you convince Bianca to do that for you, don’t be pushing on her head like you did with mine. Kind of not cool unless someone likes it.” 

“Oh.” Nicholas looked away. “Sorry…”

“It’s okay,” Isaac told him, patting his hand. “I like it.”

“I just really…liked that. Is it true that it’s even better up…”

“The ass?” Isaac asked, when Nicholas didn’t finish. “Yeah. You want to give it a try?”

Nicholas looked indecisive for an entire second, before nodding again. “Yeah. Please?”

Isaac grinned and took off his shirt, mostly because it was sweaty and gross. When he got it over his head, Nicholas was doing the same, and it was obviously because he was taking Isaac’s lead on what to do. The idea of having Nicholas totally naked out here where someone could potentially see was very appealing, so he said nothing as Nicholas stripped out of the rest of his clothes, while Isaac himself did the same. Nicholas’s dick, pointing straight up, was the only thing redder than his face as he sat there on the grass, cross-legged and exposed, waiting for Isaac’s instructions. 

“It’s your first time, so I’ll do all the work and show you how it goes, okay?” Isaac asked, trying to look reassuring.

Nicholas nodded, and Isaac crawled forward, pushed him a little to encourage him to get on his back and let Isaac straddle him. While Isaac did that, he licked some fingers on his other hand and reached back to finger himself open. “I expect you to do this part next time,” he said as he did. “Stretching is important.”

Nicholas swallowed a sudden laugh, and Isaac paused, amused. “What?”

“You sound so different than usual,” Nicholas snickered. “Like a teacher.”

Isaac grinned, positioning himself over Nicholas and removing his fingers. “Maybe I could teach a class.” 

“You’d be the most popular faculty at the academy.”

“I’d make sure of it.” Isaac lowered himself a little, letting Nicholas press against his entrance for just a second before sliding down a bit. 

Needless to say, Nicholas didn’t feel like continuing their conversation, settling instead of gasping as Isaac sat on him. 

Isaac went slowly, but not so slowly as to torment Nicholas, at least not too much. He wanted this too, after all, and as Nicholas filled him up, Isaac thought more and more that they should have done this months ago. After too long, he seated himself fully on Nicholas, his fellow chosen one buried all the way inside Isaac. Isaac smiled down at him, hands on Nicholas’s chest. “How’s that? Better than my mouth?”

Isaac took the fact that Nicholas nodded, mouth moving as if to talk but no sound coming out, to be a yes. 

So he started moving bucking back and forth, taking the middling speed that he liked to use with first-timers. Nicholas seemed to like it too, throwing back his head a little, eyes closed. As he moved, Isaac subtly repositioned himself once or twice, reaching back and using his hand to aim Nicholas in the direction he wanted, trying to get him to hit the right spot. 

He was sweating again by the time he found it, gasping as the shock went through him. Isaac rode Nicholas harder after that, looking down at his flushed, sweaty face, mouth open in a silent cry. He had figured Nicholas for a screamer, but apparently not. 

Or maybe he’d been right after all. Nicholas found his volume really suddenly, making a lot of noise in a breathless way as he started to get close, and Isaac used both hands to keep Nicholas pinned to the ground as he thrust his hips, Nicholas moving a little in tune with him as he vocalized his approval. 

Nicholas shouted wordlessly as he came, and Isaac closed his eyes and felt Nicholas fill him up, holding still as he did. When Nicholas was finished, Isaac used his hand to get himself the last few inches and he gave a content sigh as he squirted on Nicholas’s chest. 

They sat like that for a minute, until Isaac opened his eyes again and looked down at Nicholas, who was watching him. “How was that?” he asked.

“It was…” Nicholas swallowed, nodded. “Thank you.”

Isaac leaned down, kissed Nicholas on the cheek, and smiled. “Anytime.” 

He got off, eliciting a quiet groan from Nicholas, and stood, stretching. “Next time you can do the work, though,” he said, working out a kink in his shoulder. He smirked at Nicholas. “It’s really good exercise.” 

“Fine,” Nicholas said, sitting up and watching Isaac. “How…”

“How?” Isaac prompted, when Nicholas didn’t finish.

“How long do you normally wait for next time?” Nicholas asked, still red in the face, but a lot more confident than he’d been a second ago. Learning how to use his dick did that to a guy. 

Isaac’s eyes moved down, saw that Nicholas was perfectly ready to have a next time, and he raised his eyebrows. “I normally wait until my partner can get hard again.” He got back down on his knees, turning around so Nicholas could see his leaking hole. “You want to drive this time?”

“Uh, sure,” Nicholas said, and Isaac listened to him approach, felt his hand on thigh. He pressed into Isaac with a thumb, making a thoughtful noise. “I never even thought about putting anything up here until I met you.” 

“Give it a try sometime,” Isaac suggested, clenching a little around Nicholas’s thumb. “It’s fun. Pairs well with having your other hand on your dick.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Nicholas removed his thumb, looked at it for a minute, then wiped it on the grass. “I’m going to put it back in now.”

“Go for it, big guy,” Isaac said, spreading his legs a bit. 

“Show you big,” Nicholas muttered, his head pressing against Isaac for a second, then inside. “Here you go.” That came as a grunt as he slid all the way in in one motion. 

“Ah,” Isaac nodded, enjoying the feeling. “Yeah, that’s big.”

“You like that?”

“Yeah, I do. You know what to do with it, Nicky?”

Nicholas squeezed Isaac’s thigh with one hand. “I told you to stop calling me that little boy’s name.”

“If you’re not a little boy, then fuck me like a man, Nicky,” Isaac teased. Nicholas was too predictable. It was very charming. 

Nicholas grunted again, and he pulled out, thrusting into Isaac hard. “Like that?”

“Yeah, just like that.”

“Fine, then.” Nicholas did it again, and a third time, and found a good speed, much more than the one Isaac had been going at before. Holding Isaac by the hips, Nicholas fucked Isaac inexpertly but with such great enthusiasm that Isaac couldn’t bring himself to tell him he was doing it wrong. 

Instead, Isaac reached back and grabbed one of Nicholas’s hands, guided it down and around. “Give a guy a hand,” he said, between breaths, as he put Nicholas’s palm right on his erection. 

Nicholas grunted and gripped Isaac, jerking him off to the tune of the fucking, which at least he was good at. He had a strong, firm grip that felt great on Isaac’s sensitive dick, and between that and the strength of his thrusts, Isaac could feel well and truly like Nicholas was in total control of his body. That hand wrapped tightly around his erection, jerking him with dedication and power, the dick hammering in and out of his slippery hole, Nicholas’s grunting and the free hand squeezing his thigh…yes, Isaac like this a lot. 

So much that, when Nicholas hit him in the right spot, once and by accident, that was enough for Isaac to tense and cum, Nicholas helping him pump it all over the grass as he whinged with it. 

Nicholas wasn’t done yet, but it was only a moment after Isaac had finished that he let go of Isaac’s dick, grabbed his hips with both hands and thrusted like crazy for a minute, before slamming into Isaac with a low yell and filling him with more cum. 

Nicholas pulled out after a moment, and collapsed on his back, panting and trying to breathe. “Fuck…” he whispered.

“Yeah.” Isaac lay down gingerly, also trying to get his breath back. “That was good.”

“Was it?”

“It was,” Isaac confirmed. “You’re a natural.”

“I bet you…say that to all the boys,” Nicholas gasped.

“Not all the boys can go three times in a row on their first try,” Isaac told him, shaking his head. “A little practice, and you’ll be really good at that.”

“Huh.” Isaac could hear the smirk. “And you’ll provide the practice?”

“I hope so.”

“I do too…Izzy.”

Isaac glanced at Nicholas. “Careful what you start.”

“ _You_ started it. You’re the one who asked me to fuck you like a man.”

“So I get the little boy name now?” Isaac teased. “You want to fuck a little boy, Nicky?”

“I’m perfectly happy with the guy my own age, thanks. You are kind of scrawny, though.” Nicholas sat up and started looking around, for his pants, presumably. 

“I’m slender,” Isaac corrected, sitting up and stretching again. Time to get dressed, sadly. 

“You should start running with me.”

“Only if we’re going to fuck at the end,” Isaac muttered, grabbing his clothes. 

“Only sometimes,” Nicholas said, reaching out for his own, scowling when Isaac stole his smallclothes and started to put them on. “Stop stealing those. You don’t even like wearing them.”

“I do when I don’t want stains on the back of my pants,” Isaac told him. “It’s just to the baths, don’t worry.”

He wasn’t planning on giving them back after that either, but that was a different story.

Nicholas gave a sigh that was entirely too dramatic for someone who’d just lost his virginity, and started to dress in the remainder of his clothes. “I’m serious about the running.”

“There are easier ways to get in my pants, you know. Like asking.”

Nicholas rolled his eyes. “I just think we should spend time together sometimes. It’s a thing that people who are friends do.”

“Are we friends now?” Isaac asked, watching Nicholas as he did up his pants. 

“I…think so.” Nicholas was red. 

Isaac had to stop from rolling his eyes. “Fine,” he said, hiding a smile. “I’ll run with you.”

Nicholas brightened. “I usually get up early in the mornings. I didn’t today, but…”

“I usually sleep early in the mornings,” Isaac interrupted. “How about after supper?”

A frown. “It’s not great to run after eating. How about before supper?”

“Fine.” Isaac really didn’t want to run ever, but that was fine. Nicholas wasn’t giving him much choice, and at least it wasn’t going to happen when birds were still sleeping. “Nicholas?”

“Yeah.”

Isaac wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. “You’d make a really good chosen one.”

Nicholas looked at him a bit funny, but he nodded. “So would you, Isaac.”

That wasn’t true, but it was the way it was, so Isaac nodded back. “Come on. I’ll race you to the baths. Loser can wash the winner’s back.”


	43. It’s Important to Have Your Assumptions Challenged Every So Often

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Isaac's world broadens.

“And its leaves are used for…curing paralysis, right?”

“Yeah,” Isaac said, nodding and looking up from Garrett’s notes. “Good job.”

“We’ll see if I actually remember any of it for the test,” Garrett said, slumping in his chair a little. He looked at Isaac. “Doesn’t seem to matter how much I study, when I get to the test, I always forget at least half of what I studied.”

“Me too,” Isaac said, smiling at him. “But I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

“Hopefully,” Garrett sighed. “It would be a waste of all the time you put into helping me study if I up and fail, yeah?”

Isaac laughed. “Guess that’s your motivation to pass, then.”

Garrett shrugged, shoulders moving in a way that made Isaac think he’d be a good dancer. “I’m willing to try anything.”

“It works for me,” Isaac told him. “I think about whoever helped me study and how annoyed they’d be if I messed up the test. It at least forces me to remember.”

“Huh.” Garrett looked interested. “Seems like it would make tests more stressful.”

“Tests are stressful anyway.” Isaac’s main problem wasn’t that he forgot things, it was that he never had enough time to write out answers to the questions. 

“You didn’t look stressed during Lee’s last week,” Garrett told him, looking around the small study room they were using, which was furnished with one table and two chairs. Isaac was surprised there weren’t three. “You looked like you might kill anyone who got too close to you. In a good way.”

Isaac swallowed another laugh. “Yeah? I was terrified.” He’d been forced to leave the last page of that test blank. 

“You hide it well.”

“I’ve got practice.” Isaac said it like a joke, but it kind of wasn’t.

Garrett snorted. “Jealous. Aren’t you flying through your classes, though?”

Isaac shook his head, closing Garrett’s book. “I do well in Lee’s class and this one. I’m okay in Practical except I blow myself up a lot. Development is really hard and I’m pretty sure I failed my history test yesterday.”

Mostly because he’d been nervous about meeting Cameron for his first witchcraft lesson, which had turned out to just be sitting and trying to feel the earth, which Isaac didn’t quite understand. 

Garrett nodded along. “It’s only like another month or so. Then we get to start all over with new classes.”

“Yay,” Isaac muttered, rolling his eyes. “What about you? You do okay, right?”

“Yeah, I do okay,” Garrett sighed. “I don’t like tests, but other than that I’m fine. I know you probably thought I was a really great student, but I’m just sort of middle of the road. Sorry to disappoint.”

Isaac smiled at him, moved his hand a little closer to Garrett’s on the table. “You’re not disappointing. And I feel better about studying together when we’re helping each other instead of just you helping me.”

“I guess so,” Garrett looked down at Isaac’s hand, then back up at his face. He didn’t move his own hand away. “It’s working out better than I thought. I was worried, because, you know,” he shrugged. “Thomas needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. When he told me you had a crush, I was a bit worried it would be awkward.”

Isaac blushed a little, shaking his head. He was going to get Thomas somehow. “I like you. I wouldn’t ruin us being friends because of a crush.”

“Me either,” Garrett said, smiling back at Isaac. “You know when you first came to the academy, people talked about you. There was kind of the impression that you only wanted sex from people. But I think most of us have realized by now that was wrong, and also not very fair of us to assume.”

It wasn’t, but Isaac understood. He nodded. “It’s not hard to get that conclusion, I guess. I like people. I like having a lot of friends. I also like sex, and I do like to have a lot of it with a lot of people, because it makes both of us happy. But that’s not the only thing I’m after.”

“I know,” Garrett said, nodding now. “You’re a really good friend. To me and other people, from what I hear.”

“Thanks.” That got to Isaac more than he’d expected, and he found himself with a soaring feeling in his gut. “I try.”

“Am I right in assuming you’re angling to have sex with me too?” Garrett asked.

Isaac hadn’t expected that bluntness, but he nodded. “Yeah. If you want to, though. If you don’t, I’ll forget about it.” He wouldn’t, but he’d stop trying to make it happen.

“Hm. I haven’t decided yet, to be honest. I do really like you. I’d like to see you more, Isaac.”

“I’d like to see you more too,” Isaac admitted, giving Garrett a smile. He moved his hand closer, until their fingers were touching. 

“I don’t think I’m the kind of boy you like, though,” Garrett added, looking a little sad. 

Isaac frowned, looking him over. “Well, first of all, you’re really nice, and friendly and thoughtful. I like those things about you. You’re cute, which is a huge bonus. And even if you weren’t all that, you’re a boy, which is the kind of boy I like.”

Garrett laughed at that, giving Isaac a look. He was flushed. “Nice to know you’ve got high standards. What do you mean by boy, though?”

“Uh…I think it’s kind of obvious?” Isaac asked. He wasn’t sure what Garrett meant. 

“If I can ask a straightforward question,” Garrett began.

“Go ahead.”

“You like boys because you like dick, right?”

Oh. “Uh, yeah, for sure.” 

Dick was pretty awesome, in Isaac’s opinion. 

“So, would you like a boy who didn’t have one?” Garrett asked quietly. 

Isaac frowned. “Um.” He tried to picture that, not totally sure what Garrett was getting at. “Did…you have like an accident, or…”

“No,” Garrett said, shaking his head. “Being a boy or a girl is…in your head, not in your pants. Does that make sense?”

“I…” Isaac thought about it. “Yeah, I guess.” Not really, but he figured Garrett was about to explain.

“Most of the time, boys and girls have certain body parts. And so people think those are important to what you are. But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes you get a girl who gets called a boy because she has a penis, or a boy with a vagina who gets called a girl.”

Isaac was struggling to get his head around this, but he got the gist of what Garrett was saying. “So…you…”

“If you’d seen me without my clothes on without knowing me, you’d have thought I was a girl,” Garrett said. He looked…nervous, Isaac realized. He was worried about what Isaac was going to say. He was worried Isaac wouldn’t like him now. “But I’m not. And I had people telling me I was for too long, and I don’t let people tell me what I am anymore. I’m a boy.”

Isaac looked at Garrett carefully, biting his lip. “Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Well…if being a boy is in your head, you’d know what’s up there, wouldn’t you?” Isaac asked. “Better than I would by looking at you.”

“Yeah,” Garrett said, nodding, a small smile on his face. “I would. As long as we’re clear on that. But I think that puts a bit of a wrinkle in your plans to have sex with me, doesn’t it? You like something I don’t have.”

Isaac thought about that for a good minute, looking down at their hands on the table, just touching. He wasn’t sure what to say. He was trying hard to picture himself with someone with girl…with parts he wasn’t used to, and not coming up with much. “I do,” he admitted, nodding. “But…I also like a lot of things you do have, Garrett. I like that you’re nice and friendly and thoughtful, and cute. You’re a boy, and I like that. I’ve never met a boy I didn’t like, you know.”

Garrett laughed, that worry leaving his face. “I know. But you didn’t answer my question. It’s not going to hurt my feelings if you don’t want to see me naked anymore.”

“Hm.” Isaac moved his hand, covered Garrett’s with it. “I really like sex, Garrett. Especially with people I like. I can’t…promise, but I’d still like to give it a try.”

It couldn’t be _that_ different.

Garrett gave a lopsided smile that Isaac had never seen on him before. “Me too. Tell you what. Why don’t we…date for a bit. Think about it a little more. See how we both feel in a while. Okay?”

Isaac nodded. “Okay. That sounds nice. I’m probably not going to change my mind.”

“Good for you.” Garret took his hand away from Isaac. “I move more slowly than you, so I haven’t decided yet how I feel about you and all your boyfriends. I think we’ve studied enough. You want to go for a walk?”

“Sure,” Isaac said, standing and quickly packing all their stuff away. “That sounds nice.”

“I’ll even let you hold my hand.”

“Whatever will our friends think?” Isaac teased.

“Just for that you don’t get a kiss on the cheek at the end of the walk,” Garrett said, smirking.

“Aw…”

“Behave and maybe I’ll change my mind. Let’s go.”

“I’m coming,” Isaac told him, and he left the study room, following after Garrett.


	44. Success or Failure Are Usually about Circumstance, not Ability

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which an educator does her job.

Isaac steeled himself, took a breath, and flipped over the paper in front of him. He was already upset and he hadn’t even seen it yet.

There was no grade there. Just a note in Lee’s precise writing. _Come talk to me._

Isaac closed his eyes, trying to keep his expression calm. He’d known the test had gone badly, but not that badly. He’d counted on ‘you suck, but you pass by the skin of your teeth” based on how he’d felt about the pages he’d answered. He hadn’t expected ‘you suck, and you’re in trouble over it.”

He really liked Lee, and this class. And now he felt like shit. 

He sat there, eyes closed, while Lee handed out the rest of the exams to the terrified class. Isaac took some solace in the fact that everyone was terrified, but they’d probably all at least finished writing the test. He hoped they’d all done well.

When she was done, Lee headed back up to the front of the class, and turned to face them. “A test is an artificial way of measuring knowledge,” she told them, arms crossed. “I wouldn’t have them, but there’s not a better way to assess you at your level. You did about how I expected you to do, as a class. Don’t worry overly if you didn’t do well, you can make it up on the final exam.”

Isaac wondered how he’d make up no grade at all on the final. Maybe he wouldn’t even be allowed to write it.

“If you’re worried about your mark, come talk to me. Otherwise, class is dismissed, see you all tomorrow.” 

Chairs scraped as everyone got up. Isaac stayed sitting, watching Lee. A few people went and talked to her, but most just filed out. Peter put a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “You coming?”

“In a minute,” Isaac said, showing Peter Lee’s comment. “I’m being summoned.”

Peter frowned, nodded. He leaned down and kissed Isaac on the forehead. “You’re okay. It’s probably nothing.”

“Yeah.” Isaac didn’t think so. “Thanks.”

“I’ll wait for you in the hall.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.”

Peter turned and headed out of the room, and Isaac watched him go. He also waved at Garrett, who smiled at him as he left. 

When the last of his classmates were filtering out, Isaac got up, headed over to Lee’s desk slowly, methodically measuring every step. 

“You don’t have to walk like it’s to an execution,” Lee said as Isaac approached. 

He put his test paper down in front of her. “Isn’t it?”

“No.” She looked at his exam. “You did very well on the parts that you filled in. How come you didn’t finish?”

Isaac shrugged, looking away. “I ran out of time. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

Isaac nodded, emotion welling up. “It’s okay,” he said, trying to breath. “You don’t have to play nice. You can just say I failed.”

“You didn’t fail, Isaac,” Lee told him.

“I didn’t finish.”

“I know.” Lee sighed. “There were a lot of spelling mistakes as well, and you have trouble writing a lot of the letters consistently. Do you struggle with reading, Isaac?”

Isaac nodded, feeling stupid. “I can read. I know how. It’s just…really hard.”

“And writing as well. That’s really hard too?”

“Writing is harder,” Isaac whispered, closing his eyes. He was going to cry. He was going to be so pissed off when he started crying. This wasn’t something to cry over. “I just…I don’t get how people do it so fast.”

“There’s no need to be upset, Isaac.”

“I know, I just…” Isaac shook his head, a tear falling. “I like your class. I really like it. I feel like I’m learning a lot, and…I just hate that I’m going to fail because I’m too stupid too…”

“No.” Lee interrupted him, holding out her hand. “You’re not stupid, Isaac, and you’re not going to fail the class.”

Isaac laughed, and gestured at his test.

Lee took the test away. “Tell me the difference between compulsion and mind control.”

Isaac sniffed, shaking himself a little, trying to gather his thoughts. “Um…compulsion is when someone is made to feel like they have to do something, but they could stop if they were strong willed enough. Mind control is directly taking over someone’s thoughts so they can’t help but do as you want them to.”

“That’s good, what else?”

“Mind control is actually easier to break?” Isaac asked, trying to remember what else she’d taught him. “Because it requires more direct attention from the caster and can be blocked. If compulsion is directly cast it can work passively, and it can linger for weeks. Compulsion spells can be put on objects though, and mind control can’t.”

Lee nodded. “Good. Why is compulsion illegal under crown law? The specific reason.”

“Because…it can be used subtly. It doesn’t leave traces after the lingering is over like mind control does. There was someone named…” Fuck, Isaac hated history. “Penny? Penny Gilrain. She used compulsion on a local lord to get him to marry her, and she killed him and inherited his lands and money. Then she did the same thing to the king’s son so she could become the queen. And she was queen for ten years before anyone noticed. Her husband was the one who made it illegal. King Grant the second.”

Lee was smiling. “See, you know your stuff.”

“Yeah,” Isaac said, sighing. “But when I have to write it down…”

“Then you don’t have to write it down. Come to my study after you’re finished classes today. I’ll give you a few minutes to look over your notes again, then we’ll do what we just did. I’ll read you the test questions and you can say the answers. Then I’ll give you your grade. I think you’ll find that a lot easier that having to write out a test.”

Isaac did too, but he bit his lip, worried. “But it’s not fair if I get special treatment.”

“It’s not fair to fail you because you happen to write more slowly than other people,” Lee told him. “Besides, Isaac, you’re not the only student I’ve ever had with this problem. You’re not even the only student in this class who doesn’t do as well in a standard test setting.”

“But…” Isaac still felt like he was cheating. 

“Would you tell Peter that it’s not fair that he gets to lean on a cane when he walks, and everyone else has to do it with just their legs?”

Isaac frowned. “No. Of course not. Peter needs his cane.”

“Exactly. And you need a test that isn’t designed for you to fail. It’s not unfair for you to have the same opportunity as everyone else. Come to my study. I’ll read you the test questions. And next time there’s an exam, we’ll just do it that way, and you won’t have to write it.”

“I…” Isaac was going to cry again. He wiped his eyes. “Thank you.”

Lee smiled. “I’ll talk to your other teachers, get them to accommodate you too. There’s no reason you have to hate your time here, Isaac.”

Isaac nodded. “I really appreciate that, Lee. Thank you. I do like it here, you know. Despite everything.”

“Good.” Lee stood. “Come, you have a class to get to. I’ll see you afterwards.”

“Yeah. Thank you again.” Isaac stood as well, giving his test paper a glance. Lee took it and stuffed it into her bag.

“One more thing. You’re close to Peter, right?”

“Yeah, he’s…” Isaac frowned. “Well, he’s my boyfriend. Is something wrong?”

“No,” Lee said, walking to the door with Isaac. “I don’t think so. He doesn’t get on with his parents, is that right?”

“Yeah.”

“He’d rather hear this from you than me, I think. Can you tell him they’re in town? Here in the capital?”

Isaac stopped walking, frowned up at her. “How do you know that?”

Another smile. “I know everything. But mostly I’m very interested in church politics, and they’re here to participate in the selection of a new High Presbyter.”

“Oh.” Isaac had heard that Neil’s granduncle had died during the dragon attack. Neil was shaken, but not that upset. He hadn’t known him that well. “Okay. I’ll tell him. Thanks.”

Lee nodded, opened the door. “I’ll see you later, Isaac.”

“Yeah, later.” Isaac had already thanked Lee a lot, so he just left the room, letting her go ahead of him to go wherever she was going, and wandered over to Peter, leaning against a wall not far away. “You didn’t have to wait.”

“So you keep telling me,” Peter said. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded. “Yeah.”

“You look like you were crying.”

“Yeah.” Another nod. “But I’m okay now. Lee’s going to let me to do the last part of the exam out loud since I’m so bad at writing.”

Peter nodded along. “That’s a good idea. It’s probably a big help for you.”

“You don’t…think it’s unfair, do you?”

“No.” Peter started heading for the stairs. “You need it. It’s not unfair to take what you need.”

“Thanks.” Isaac fell into step beside Peter. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Your parents are in the capital.”

“Oh.” Peter fell quiet for a minute, cane clicking against the floor. “Okay. I guess they would be. The High Presbyter selection.”

“That’s why.”

“God,” Peter sighed. “I hope they don’t win.”

Isaac blinked. “Win?”

“Yeah. Well. The High Presbyter isn’t selected by angels, no matter what the church tells you. It’s done by vote of high-ranking priests. They say the vote is guided by the hands of angels, but…” Peter shrugged. “Anyway. It’s a contest, and it’s political. And my parents have always planned to win. They’re not here to pick a High Presbyter, they’re here so one of them can _become_ the High Presbyter.”

“Oh,” Isaac said, impressed. He hadn’t realized Peter’s parents were that important. “Would that…be bad?”

Peter shrugged. “They’re both good priests. I’m sure they’d be good at it. The whole disowning me things makes me biased against them. But I’ve met the guy who’s going to be the top pick in the church. Jeremy. He’s a tool. If I know my church politics right, his next biggest rival is a southern priest named Christina, who is really nice and has no chance because of it. Her family is also connected to the royal family down south, and the church is kind of aggressively northern at times.”

Isaac nodded. “Do your parents have a shot?”

“They might, if they can find a way to convince people that Jeremy isn’t the right choice.” Peter smiled. “Sorry, this is really boring.”

“We can talk about the test instead. How’d you do?”

Peter smiled. “Did fine. Forgot the name of that person who used compulsion on the king.”

“Penny Gilrain?”

“Yeah, well, that would have been useful information last week, huh?”

Isaac chuckled a little. “Maybe. I’m sure it was okay.”

“It was fine,” Peter assured him. 

By the time they got to their next class, Isaac felt back to normal. Or maybe just a little better than normal. Like things weren’t as bad as he’d thought.


	45. It’s Hard to Tell Sometimes if You’re Influencing People or Just Bringing out Their Hidden Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a role reversal.

“You know you could do this.”

“I know,” Peter said, looking down, watching Isaac shave him. “But I like it when you do it.”

Isaac grinned, gave Peter a kiss on the head of his dick. “I like doing it.” 

Peter nudged Isaac with his knee. “You like the part that comes after.”

“I like both parts,” Isaac promised, because he did.

“You could run a barbershop down here at night,” Peter suggested, nudging again. “We could definitely interest people. Free blowjob with every full-body shave.” 

Carefully shaving off the last of Peter’s hair, Isaac chuckled. “Payment to be deposited between my legs on the way out?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep a close eye and make sure nobody skips the bill.”

“You know,” Isaac said, setting the razor aside. “I have a feeling most people wouldn’t try to skip. In fact, we could probably get them to come down here and pay without having to provide the service.”

Another grin as Isaac took Peter’s dick in hand, licking the head. “You’d be interested in that, right? Bunch of guys coming down here and…”

“Of course,” Isaac said, nodding. “Would you?”

“I’m willing to give it a try.” 

Isaac blinked. He’d been asking if Peter would be okay watching, but he had a feeling that wasn’t what Peter had answered. “You sure? Don’t feel like you have to.”

“Isaac, when have you known me to feel like I had to do anything?” Peter asked, kicking Isaac in the belly now. Gently. “I’ve known you long enough to know it’s probably fun. I wouldn’t mind.”

“If you want, I mean if you’re interested, I could introduce you to some people.” Isaac laughed, nervous. “People you already know. But you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean. I’d be interested. But, um…” Peter looked away, then back at Isaac. “In terms of being on the bottom, I’d like, I’d like to do it with you first.”

If Isaac hadn’t already been hard, he sure was now. “You want me to top you?”

“Yeah. Maybe, like, now?”

They shared a look, a smile. “Okay,” Isaac said, trying to hide any nerves he might be feeling. “Does that mean you don’t want the complimentary blowjob?”

Peter patted Isaac’s head, sliding down onto the floor. “I know for a fact that I can get a complimentary blowjob whenever I want.”

“Benefit of dating me.”

“Benefit of knowing you.”

“Fair enough,” Isaac agreed, touching Peter’s face. 

“Here,” Peter said, pushing Isaac back a bit. “You can have the complimentary blowjob, how’s that?”

“You don’t have to…”

“Shush.” Peter covered Isaac’s mouth briefly. “I know that I don’t have to. But you do it a lot, it can’t be that bad, and I happen to know receiving them is nice, and I want to do something nice for you. So lean back, let me be you and you can be, you know, everyone else.”

Chuckling, Isaac did as he was told. “Well, since you’re in the mood to be so bossy, sure.” He was hard and hardly going to say no when Peter seemed so invested.

Peter nodded, crawling in between Isaac’s legs. “Tell me if I’m doing it wrong,” he said, looking up at Isaac as he leaned farther down.

Isaac grinned at him. “Don’t use your teeth and it’s pretty hard to do it wrong.”

“I’m serious, I want to be good at this,” Peter laughed.

“Okay,” Isaac said, nodding. “Show me what you got. Learn by doing.”

“I like your teaching strategy,” Peter muttered, taking Isaac in his hand. And, with remarkably little hesitation and a lot of bravery for a first-timer, Peter took Isaac in his mouth, sucking experimentally but with conviction as he figured out what to do. 

Isaac wasn’t usually on the receiving end of this and he’d forgotten how amazing it felt to have someone’s mouth on there. “Oh, wow, good, good, Peter,” Isaac panted as Peter worked it out. He nodded along as Peter sucked on him, liking this.

“That’s really good,” Isaac said, as Peter dipped lower. Isaac reached down and poked Peter’s cheeks a little, getting him to make more of a circle with his mouth. “More like that, good, good. God, Peter. You’re…” He broke off into heavy breathing for a good minute or so, closing his eyes and letting Peter work. 

Isaac swallowed, trying to pay attention. “You don’t have to,” he managed to say. “But you can try your tongue if you want.” Peter did, running it roughly up the underside of Isaac’s shaft, and Isaac let out a cry. “Yeah, like that, that’s great, try the head too…careful, that’s your teeth, ah…Peter…”

Hands clenched into fists on the wet stone floor, Isaac felt himself close. “I’m going to cum, Peter. If you don’t want it in your mouth you have to stop now.”

Peter didn’t stop, making a noise and sucking a little harder, and as he’d warned, Isaac started to shoot with a low noise, filling Peter’s mouth.

Peter gagged, pulled back and let Isaac squirt the second half of his load onto his own belly while Peter coughed and let Isaac’s cum dribble out of his mouth. “Bleh,” he said, eloquently. 

Isaac couldn’t help it, he laughed even as he squirted his last. “No?”

Peter shook his head, wiping his mouth. “I thought I wanted it in my mouth. I didn’t. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Isaac assured him. “Nobody says you have to swallow. It’s an acquired taste.”

“How long did it take you to acquire it?”

Not long. Isaac chuckled. “Doesn’t matter. You did really well.”

“Well, you came at the end, so I assumed so.” Peter smirked at Isaac. “It was fun. Wasn’t into the part at the end, but I’d do it again. I feel like I could improve a lot.”

“I will be your willing practice partner whenever you want,” Isaac promised, solemn. He scooped up some of the cum from his belly and tasted it. 

“I thought you’d say that. But now I want to practice the other thing.”

Isaac nodded, sitting up. “If you’re sure. I don’t want you to…”

Peter leaned in, kissed Isaac on the mouth, some of Isaac’s cum still on his lips. “Shut up. I’m laying down now and I’m going to hand you the thing of oil and trust that you know what to do with it.”

Isaac looked at him, looked at how determined he looked, and he smiled. “Okay,” he said, holding out his hand for the small bottle that they’d started bringing with them to the baths. 

“Good boy,” Peter said, handing over the bottle and laying back, pulling his legs apart to give Isaac room. “We both know you’re not going to hurt me, and I would tell you if you did, so just focus on showing me why this part is fun.”

Oh, Isaac was going to show him. He coated his fingers in oil and got in between Peter’s legs, still hard as a rock and ready to go. “I will,” he promised, sliding his hand down Peter’s thigh, between his cheeks and poking around at his hole. “Try to relax, this is going to feel weird.”

Peter nodded, and Isaac gave him a second before pushing his middle finger past Peter’s entrance, slowly sliding it inside. Peter clenched around him immediately, but then he let out a breath and noticeably relaxed, and Isaac kept sliding. He was gentle but he didn’t stop, watching Peter carefully for signs of pain. There was some discomfort, but that was normal so he kept going, because if Peter was going to do this he was going to have to get used to it. 

When he did, or at least when he relaxed again and his breathing went back to mostly normal, if a bit heavy, Isaac pulled his hand back, then pushed it back in, then picked up a rhythm, sliding his finger in and out. Peter made a little noise, flushed in the face and squirming a bit on the floor, but it wasn’t a bad noise. “Going to add another one,” Isaac said, waiting for Peter’s nod before slowly sliding in his pointer finger as well. Isaac held it there, waiting for Peter, who tensed up again.

“Stings a little,” Peter breathed, and Isaac nodded, just holding his hand in place, not moving until Peter was ready. “Okay, it’s okay.”

“Okay,” Isaac said, and he went slowly, pushing the second finger the rest of the way in, giving Peter another minute before he resumed his back and forth movements, getting Peter used to the idea. He stuck with two fingers a lot longer than one, before pressing one more alongside the other. “Going to do the third one.”

Peter nodded, and Isaac started to slide it in. “Hurts a little,” Peter said, face contorted. “Don’t stop, just…hurts a little.”

“Sorry,” Isaac whispered, though he’d known that would happen. “It gets better.” 

“Yeah.” Peter was still making a face, but he was also making an effort not to be too tense, letting Isaac push into him. To make it easier on him, Isaac found the good spot inside him and brushed up against it, just gently, just to show him it was there. “Oh. Wow.” Peter moved his hips a little in reaction to that. 

“You like that?” Isaac asked, smiling now as he got the fingers all the way in, Peter warm and tight around him. 

“Yeah, I liked that. Do that again.”

Isaac did, noting the way that Peter’s dick moved in response. “That’s why I like doing this,” Isaac told him. “Feels good, right?”

“Right,” Peter panted, nodding. “Yeah, it’s nice. I see why you’re into it, it’s…ah…it’s almost nicer than touching myself…”

“I know,” Isaac told him, rubbing Peter’s thigh with his free hand as he massaged Peter’s insides. “I think it’s like, my mission in life to teach guys that this is here.”

“Well, consider the lesson learned.” Peter opened his eyes, looking up at Isaac. “I think I’m ready.”

“Okay.” Isaac slid his fingers out, chuckling when Peter whinged a little, patting him. “I’ll put something back in a second,” he promised, grabbing the oil and carefully applying it to himself, making sure to cover his whole dick before he put it anywhere near Peter. 

Peter spread his legs even farther apart as Isaac moved in, lining his dick up with Peter’s stretched hole, trying to be calm. “Nervous?”

“A little,” Peter admitted, looking it. “You?”

“A little. I have done this before, once or twice, at least. But still, a little.” 

Peter took Isaac’s hand. “Let’s go. I’m sure we’ll do fine.”

“I’m sure we will too,” Isaac said, feeling just so warm and overwhelmingly in love. “Okay, here I go.”

Isaac pressed inside, amazed at how tight it was inside despite all the stretching. “Fuck…” he whispered as he pushed in. “Peter…”

“Isaac…” 

At least, Isaac thought as he pressed farther in, he wasn’t the only one who was only going to last ten seconds. He met resistance about halfway in and stopped, leaning down and kissing Peter to help them both relax. “Going to start moving,” he muttered between kisses, and when Peter nodded under him, Isaac pulled back and started thrusting, gently, trying to encourage Peter to let him in a little more—not because Isaac desperately needed to be fully buried, but because the spot he wanted to hit was beyond where he was stuck. 

Just as he was starting to get worried he’d cum without getting there, Peter relaxed a bit more and Isaac slid the rest of the way inside, kissing Peter more emphatically now. Peter made a noise as Isaac got where he was going, and Isaac made it back, picking up a bit of speed but trying not to go too hard. 

He could feel Peter’s hard-on rubbing against his belly, feel Peter’s arms around his neck, feel Peter’s lips against his, feel Peter wrapped around his dick, feel Peter, feel nothing but Peter as they kissed, as they held each other, as they made love on the shower room floor. With a loud cry into Isaac’s mouth, Peter came, arching his back and splatting both their bellies with it. Isaac kissed him through it, kept moving, kept going, slowing down when Peter collapsed, when he was finished shooting.

Peter broke the kiss. “You too,” he whispered. “You too…” and he went back to Isaac’s mouth, pulling him tighter. Isaac kept going at Peter’s insistence, close, close and closer and then he was there, cumming inside Peter with one leg wrapped around his waist.

When he was done Isaac lay there, lifted his head up and looked down at Peter, who looked like he’d seen something beautiful. “I love you,” Isaac whispered to him.

“I love you too,” Peter whispered back, smiling. “And we’re going to do that again. You don’t get to hog the bottom anymore.”

Isaac laughed, and he gave Peter another kiss. “Okay. We can take turns from now on.”

“Works for me.” 

They lay there together for a while, Isaac on top of Peter, inside him. “We’re going to have to get up.”

“Don’t ruin this nice moment with your stupid realities,” Peter groaned, keeping his arms around Isaac. 

“Sorry. Just you’re going to want to wash all the cum off and this isn’t the best place to sleep.” It wasn’t like Isaac wanted to move either. 

“Hm, yeah.” Peter sighed. “Maybe if we wait long enough someone else will come down. We could invite them over to join us.”

Isaac smiled, which widened into a grin when he really processed what Peter said. “That’d be fun.”

“Yeah? We should do it sometime. Probably something you’re better off planning instead of doing on the fly, though.”

Isaac nodded. “Well, we’d want people to show up. And also to warn people who don’t want to show up what we’d be doing it.” 

“Okay,” Peter said. “It sounds fun. But I’d like to, um, meet at least a few of them beforehand?”

“Meet, like…” Isaac moved his hips a little, making Peter giggle.

“That was the implication, yes.”

“One dick inside you and you’re already making a list,” Isaac teased, giving Peter a kiss on the cheek.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Peter reminded him. 

“I’m not saying no. I think it’s great. If you end up liking it as much as I do, we can team up and between the two of us we’ll conquer the academy.”

Peter laughed. “I don’t think anyone can possibly like sex as much as you do. But it’s like you always say—it’s fun and it feels good, so why not do it with people you like? At least that’s what I’m thinking now. I’d like to try and see how I feel about it.”

Isaac kissed him again. “You know I’m with you no matter what you decide. I’ll even stay with you and hold your hand if you want.” 

“We’ll see.” Peter sighed. “Okay, you might have a point about the getting up.”

“Yeah,” Isaac agreed, reluctantly pulling back, and out with a small noise. Peter whimpered, and Isaac took his hand. “Feeling empty?”

“Yeah, it’s weird.” Peter snorted. “Also a bit sore.”

“That’ll go away.” Isaac stood, and helped Peter to his feet too. “Eventually. Come on, let’s get you in the shower.”

“See?” Peter said, wobbling a little as he walked with Isaac, leaning on him. “How’d I get lucky enough to find a guy who’ll shave me, fuck me, encourage me to sleep with other people and then help me shower all at once?”

“Sometimes the world gives us what we need,” Isaac said, squeezing Peter’s hand. “I found one who’ll put up with me, let me sleep around, help me study and help me not freak out about prophecies all at once—plus having sex with me in the shower and helping me plan an orgy with our friends. Maybe there’s something to this destiny bullshit after all.”

“Now you sound like an idiot,” Peter laughed.

“But you love me anyway?”

“Yes, I love you anyway. Now get me cleaned off before this dries.”

“Can do,” Isaac promised, opening the water chute to do just that.

Isaac wasn’t sure where he stood on destiny, but he did know that with or without it, he’d found a way to be himself and be happy about that.


End file.
